The Lost and The Broken
by shinysilver
Summary: When Marluxia's mother is ordered to go to rehab for her drug abuse, Marluxia is sent to live in a group home with other boys his age. Marluxia's about to start his life over with some very different people. Completed. AU OOCness
1. Before

**This story kind of just popped into my head randomly... **

**This chapter is all Marluxia but there will be more characters come in very very soon!**

**Disclaimer: I dont own anything Kingdom Hearts, if I did I wouldn't be writing fanfics. The only things in this story I own are the people that are'nt from Kingdom Hearts...**

**Enjoy!!!!! **

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**The Lost and the Broken**

_Man of the House_

"You're gonna come tomorrow night right Mar?" Cloud asked as I climbed into my car.

"Yea sure…I'll be there. See ya." I bid Cloud good bye and slammed the car door shut and shoved the key into the ignition. Cloud was determined to get me to go to that party tomorrow night. Don't get me wrong I did want to go. But I would have to find care for Lizzie. I couldn't just leave her alone with mom. I wouldn't dare.

* * *

Lizzie was parked in her usual spot on the couch, doing her math homework. But she was watching more T.V. than she was concentrating on her multiplication table. There was a big age difference between me and Liz. I was a junior in highschool and she was in fifth grade. In truth, Lizzie is only my half-sister, we have different dads. My dad left me and my mother when I was six years old. He left because he couldn't handle my mom's drug abuse. After he left my mother drove deeper in to drug addict world. She slept with anybody if it guaranteed her some coke or pills. This was how Lizzie ended up being conceived. Her father was a big shot drug-dealer, and was making loads of money off of it. As soon as he found out my mother was pregnant he skipped town, off to find some new costumers in a different state. My mom was now faced with being a mother of two with no job, and more importantly no cocaine. She went into prostitution for awhile. This assured her money and coke. She did this till I was old enough to get a job of my own, and I became the provider of the family. Now of days she spends most of her time in her bedroom, asleep. The only time she left the house was usually to go find someone who would lend her drugs for anything she had to give in return.

"Hey Liz," I ruffled her hair. She gave me a scowl and smoothed her hair back down. I half smiled and headed up the stairs to my mom's room.

"Mom?" I whispered. She was just a big lump in the middle of her bed. I sat down on the edge of her bed. She rolled over to look at me.

"What is it Marluxia?" She looked like one she belonged on one of those meth before and after posters.

"The social worker is coming tonight. Remember?" She mumbled 'oh shit' under her breath and sat up, pushing away the covers and getting to her feet.

"Thank you baby." She gave my arm a squeeze before she got up and went into the bathroom. I watched her go, wondering if she could pull herself together enough to get through the social worker's visit with out messing up. Deep down the pit of my stomach was telling me other wise.

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"Mom! Lizzie! Dinner!" I set the plates down and the newly cleaned kitchen table. I had cleaned the kitchen and the living room while I was making dinner, praying the social worker wouldn't want to see upstairs.

Lizzie came bounding in the kitchen, sitting down in her usual chair and tucking into her food with her usual gusto. I sat down next to her, moving my food around on my plate. I really didn't feel like eating. Surprisingly my mother showed up, showered and dressed. We ate in silence. Or rather, Lizzie did. I continued to shove my food around, while my mother ate a few bites and claimed she was full. I threw the uneaten food down the garbage disposal and placed the dishes in the dishwasher. I made one more once-over to ensure everything was clean and joined my mother and my sister in the living room to wait for the social worker.

We sat in silence, watching whatever Lizzie had picked on the T.V. I turned my attention to Liz. She was wearing a clean skirt and her favorite t-shirt, and had put her hair up in two pigtails. She looked like a normal fifth-grader. I studied my mom sitting next to me on the couch out of the corner of my eye. True she had gotten dressed in decent enough clothing and had showered and done her hair and her make-up, but she still looked like a typical druggie. She had put on too much make-up, but even through all the gunk she still screamed drug addict.

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The social worker's name was Mrs. Lufts, and she seemed nice enough. She was wearing a two part deep purple suit, the skirt coming just below her knees. Her dark brown hair was pulled up into a tight bun and she wore black rimmed glasses and carried a briefcase. She was surprisingly young, maybe in her mid-thirties. She settled herself in a chair facing us three on the couch.

"Well let's get started." She began to pull papers out of her briefcase. She placed them on a clipboard and began reviewing. "Ms. Riven, its apparent here that you have had many run ins with the law and have had serious drug abuse, and have been out of an actual job for several years. Is that correct?"

My mother seemed to shrink back into the couch. "Y-yes. That's all true." She said softly, her eyes downcast.

Mrs. Lufts continued, "And have you ever checked into rehab?"

"No. I haven't." Her voice was strained. The bad feeling in the pit of my stomach began to knot.

"We have been reviewing this case." Mrs. Lufts said, we being her and the police, "And we have decided the best thing right now is for you to check into rehab and get your life back in order." My mother nodded bleakly. But Mrs. Lufts wasn't done just yet. "As for Marluxia and Lizzie, you and I both know that it's not fit for them to live here under these conditions. Marluxia will be off to college in just a few years, and we want him to have the opportunity to go to college. But he and Lizzie are both being forced to grow up faster than they should be. It's been decided that its best for both of them to go live in group homes until everything is sorted out."

My heart stopped as the knot in my stomach finally burst. Next to me my mother began to softly cry. Seeing her cry made Lizzie cry too. Mrs. Lufts got up from her chair and crossed over to us. She put her hand on my mother's shoulder and looked truly sympathetic.

"I'm very sorry Ms. Riven. But you do know this is best for your children?" My mother nodded slightly. Mrs. Lufts straightened back up. "Marluxia and Lizzie will leave on Saturday morning. I'll come back for them then." With that she gave my mother some papers, packed up her briefcase, and left.

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I hugged my mother until her crying finally reduced to just sniffling. She looked up at me. "You two better go start packing." I nodded and guided Lizzie upstairs. She turned into her room, slamming her door shut. I went into my own room and numbly pulled out a suitcase and started to pack. I was still processing the fact that in two days I would be taken to a totally different home to live with total strangers.

After I had packed almost my entire room up, I returned to the living room. My mother was still there, looking over all the papers Mrs. Lufts had given her. She looked up at me and smiled softly and motioned for me to sit down next to her.

"They are sending you and Lizzie to different homes." She said softly.

"Why?" I really didn't like the fact that I was leaving Lizzie alone in a house full of people she didn't know.

"Well Lizzie is being sent to a group home that houses kids her own age. It will be easier for her to be around kids she can connect with better. And they are going to send you to a group home that houses boys your age, too." She began shuffling through the papers. She found the one she was searching for and placed it on top. Across the top in bold letters was printed, **House of the Lost and the Broken. **Underneath it was smaller letters in italics, _A Home for High School Aged Teenage Boys. _The home was in a town about fifty miles from here, which meant I would have the joy of starting a new highschool as well. The home was owned by a lady named Ms. Avery. Lizzie's home was in the same town, so I would be able to watch over her still.

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The next day was Saturday, so I was surprised when I walked into the kitchen and found my mother there, cooking at seven in the morning. She looked up when I came in and smiled, walking over to hug me.

"Breakfast will be ready soon baby, could you go wake up Lizzie?" She went back to cooking, me watching her in slight amazement. My mother hadn't made breakfast in five years at the least. I woke Lizzie and returned to the kitchen, where my mother was setting plates down on the table. We ate breakfast in semi-silence. Even though we all wanted to make the best of our last day together as a family, it was hard to shake the fact that this really was our last day together in this house.

I was almost finished packing that evening when there was a soft knocking at my door. "Come in!" I said loudly. My mother entered, wearing a long skirt and a new-looking blouse with her long overcoat on.

"Marly, we are all going to go to dinner tonight. Can you be ready in half an hour?" She smiled softly when I nodded. She crossed the room and sat down on the bed next to me, giving me a warm hug. "You're such a good boy." She whispered. She kissed the top of my head and left to tell Lizzie.

Dinner that night reminded me of the ones when I was little, before my dad left. No one's mind was on the events of tomorrow, which was nice, even though it was only for one hour. When we got home the house was dark and unwelcoming, immediately crushing the happy mood all of us had had at dinner and reminding us of tomorrow. My mother gave us each loving embraces.

"Go to bed. You have a big day tomorrow. I love you." She whispered. We climbed the stairs to our bedrooms to spend our last night's sleep in our house.


	2. Mixmatched Family

**Hooray Chapter 2! For some reason this took me forever to write but I finished it finally. I tried not to make it short. **

**Reviews encourage me to update faster:-)**

**Disclaimer: I do not own anything Kingdom Hearts. If I did I wouldn't be writing fanfics. **

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**Chapter 2**

**Mix-matched Family**

**Marluxia-**

_Who named this place anyway? The Lost and the Broken? It makes me sound like I'm a broken toy solider or something. How many kids does this lady have living with her? Five? Five about to become six. Are any of them blood related to her? What made her want to start a group home for teenage boys anyway?_

"You will like Ms. Avery. I've worked with her over the years." Mrs. Lufts said, breaking my thought train and bringing me back to reality. I was looking over all the stuff on my new "home."

"What made her want to start a group home for teenage boys anyway?" I said, voicing one of the things I had been pondering on.

Mrs. Lufts smiled lightly and glanced at me out of the corner of her glasses. "She never had any children of her own, but she always wanted sons. She is a very caring and kind lady and when she discovered she could conduct her own group home, she jumped right at the opportunity to make a special one for teenage boys." She made her way through the heavy traffic. I wasn't used to traffic like this. My home town was about fifty times smaller than this city.

Mrs. Lufts continued, "There are five boys living with her right now, and you will make six, which is her maximum capacity. Let's see there are Axel and Demyx and Zexion who are all your age and the twins, Sora and Roxas, who are a year younger than you. I'm sure you will get along fabulously." This was about the tenth time since we had dropped Lizzie off that she had told me their names. I guess she felt like she needed to comfort me by telling me that I'll fit right in and it will just be like the happy little families that were all over the papers and pamphlets in my lap.

She exited off of the main street down a quiet neighborhood street. Each house was big, but not over the top big. A lot of them had hedge fences bordering their lawns, and there were cherry blossom trees everywhere in more colors than I though cherry blossom trees came in.

"Here we are." Mrs. Lufts said. I had been so fascinated with the trees that I hadn't noticed she had pulled up next to a house. The house was made of dark red brick, with a low hedge fence with cherry blossom trees scattered around the yard. Lilac bushes bordered the side of the house, and three cars were parked in a spacious driveway. I retrieved my duffel bag from the back of the car and slowly followed Mrs. Lufts up the porch to the door.

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**Demyx-**

"Boys!! I need you all in the living room now!!" I had been having the best dream about playing my guitar in front of a huge, screaming crowd. It was the perfect dream, that is until mom's voice ripped my dream apart and woke me up. I grumbled and rolled over in bed. It was Sunday. Of all the days of the week for her to wake me up at the crack of dawn, it just had to be Sunday. I closed my eyes.

"Come on boys we have a lot to do today!" I sighed loudly as I heaved my protesting body off my bed. Maybe if I got whatever she wanted done finished, I could come back to bed.

I pulled a hoodie on and trudged down stairs to the living room. Mom was standing in the center of the room, wearing an apron and carrying a spatula. The smell of bacon wafted in from the kitchen. The twins were sitting on opposite sides of the couch, yawning. Zexion was curled up in a ball in the big recliner, looking fully awake, as usual. Axel had slinked into the room right after me.

"So what's all the commotion about Ma?" Axel yawned and stretched.

"We have to get this house cleaned up. Today is the day." Mom observed the living room. By the look on her face you would have thought it hadn't been cleaned since the house was built. But we had cleaned only last weekend. It wasn't that dirty.

"What's the occasion?" Roxas asked, quirking an eyebrow. The smell of bacon from the kitchen was about to drive me insane.

"Don't tell me you boys forgot?" She laughed. "Marluxia is arriving today, and I want to make a good first impression and I want to make sure he feels welcome and comfortable. I want all of you to pitch in and help me." We all groaned in unison. Chores on lazy Sundays sucked. Especially when all you want to do is scarf some food and crawl back into your nice warm bed.

"So get to it. And then make yourselves look presentable." She handed us each a sticky note with individual chores on them and returned to the kitchen.

"I don't know why she is making such a big fuss about it. It's not like he is just coming for dinner and tea. He is coming to live here and in about two days the house will look just as dirty as it does now and he will be used to it." Axel sighed loudly and flopped onto the other couch. I looked down at my sticky note and the chores listed on it. I sighed. My plans of spending the day in bed had been ruined.

Half after three I had finally finished all my damn chores and had taken a shower and gotten dressed. I laid down on the floor in the living room, placing my electric guitar next to me and a fresh page in my sketch book in front of me.

"When is he supposed to be here?" Zexion asked, looking up from his book. Mom poked her head around the corner of the kitchen. "About four." She said, before she disappeared again. I glanced up at the clock on the wall. Three forty-five. I focused my attention on my sketch book again and started sketching my dream I had had last night, leaving the rest of the world behind.

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**Marluxia-**

Mrs. Lufts rang the doorbell and was answered by a chorus of dog barks. A cat answered the dog with an angry yowl.

"Shut up Lady!" a voice shouted just as the inner door was swung open. A lady with graying light brown hair stood in the doorway, a hug smile plastered across her face. She was stout, just slightly overweight. She was wearing a simple skirt and shirt, wiping her hands on an apron.

"Come in! Come in!" She was acting like it was Christmas Eve or something. She pushed open the screen door and stepped back so we could enter. The woman who I assumed was Ms. Avery and my new guardian wrapped her arms around Mrs. Lufts as if she was her long lost daughter.

"It's so _good _to see you again my dear. However have you been? Good I hope." She turned her attention to me, looking me up and down with a caring look in her eyes. All of a sudden she whipped her arms around me in the same fashion as she had to Mrs. Lufts. I froze, not knowing what do to exactly. Luckily she let go of me before I had to make a choice.

She looked into my eyes with her own warm ones. "You must be Marluxia then. Oh you're such a handsome boy. You'll feel very welcome and safe in this house, count on it. Soon enough it will feel just like home." She gave me one more smile before turning to talk to Mrs. Lufts again. I took the chance to survey my surroundings. We were standing in a living room, which was bigger than I thought it would be. A 60 inch T.V. had been placed diagonally in a corner so it could be seen from every angle of the room. There were two deep red couches, one a love seat and one that was about twice the size of a standard couch. Two white chairs were resting together next to a wall with a long coffee table in between them. Next to a book case was a large black recliner. The carpet was a bright white and the walls were black. It was probably the most random living room I'd ever set foot in of the entire course of my life.

A blonde boy with a mullet was lying on the floor, a guitar (an expensive looking guitar) lying next to him. He was drawing something I couldn't see on a sketch pad. Another boy with dark colored hair that covered half his face was sitting in the black recliner, reading. In his lap was a German Shepard puppy. A redhead was stretched out across the enormous couch petting a golden retriever and watching two other boys play something on a play station 2. One had blonde hair, the other with brown, but it was still obvious that they were twins. A Siamese cat was sunning itself in the slowly sinking sun on the window sill. The smell of food wafted in from a door I presumed to be the kitchen.

"Oh where are my manners!" Ms Avery cried, coming back to stand at my side. "I've completely forgotten to introduce you to everyone. Boys pause that came for a second and pay attention." She introduced me and then introduced me to the rest of them. The blonde with the mullet's name was Demyx. He acknowledged me with a half wave of his hand, but it was clear his mind was on his drawing. The dark haired boy's name was Zexion. He gave me a nod of his head and then picked up his book again. The redhead was Axel, who greeted me with a 'yo'. And finally the twins were named Roxas and Sora, Roxas being the blonde one and Sora the brunette. They went back to playing their game.

"Dinner should be ready shortly. I just want to talk to Mrs. Lufts for awhile. Axel honey, would you be a sweetheart and show Marluxia to his room so he can get settled in before dinner?" She gave me a reassuring pat on the shoulder and sat down with Mrs. Lufts on the smaller couch. The redhead heaved himself off the couch with a gusty sigh and headed up a set of spiral stairs I hadn't noticed before. Not knowing what else to do, I quickly followed him.

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**Axel-**

I looked behind me and surveyed the boy following me timidly up the stairs.

_Sure doesn't say much. _I thought to myself as we walked down the hallway and turned a corner.

"So you're shy aren't you?" I asked, voicing my thoughts and breaking the pregnant silence. I must have startled him because he jumped slightly.

He shrugged his shoulders. "A little I guess." He said quietly, only making eye contact for a brief second. I sighed mentally. Zexion was extremely quiet, and we didn't need another antisocial person in this house. Oh well I figured I could change that and get him to come out of his shell in the next few days.

"This is your room." I pushed open the door to the only uninhabited bedroom in the house. It was blank except for the large king sized bed that was in every bedroom, a desk, and a medium sized closet. I'm sure he would add his own touch eventually and Mom would probably let him paint it like she let the rest of us.

"Thanks." He said quietly, surveying the room slowly with his eyes.

"Well…Mom will call everyone when its time for dinner…so…yea. Later." I seriously didn't know what to say, plus I wanted to get back to the living room and play the winner of the twins match on the snowboarding game they were playing. Quickly I left Marluxia's room so he could have some time to himself.

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**Marluxia-**

I sat down on the huge bed while I pondered. _Why did that boy, what's his name? Axel? Well anyway, why did he call Ms. Avery 'Mom'? She certainly isn't his real mother. She has no blood related kids. Do they all call her mom? What am I supposed to call her?_

I shook my head and opened my duffel bag to start unpacking. It was weird thinking this room with the big closet and even bigger bed was now my personal territory. I opened the closet to discover it was big enough to hold the dresser inside of it and still have plenty of space to hang stuff up.

"Oh boys! Its time for dinner!" Ms Avery's voice sounded up to my room. She sounded distant. How far back was this room in the house anyway? Never mind that. I had to go have dinner with my new 'family'.

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**Yey Chapter 2!! Chapter 3 will be up faster than 2 was, hopefully. **


	3. Dinner

Woo hoo Chapter 3. I was inspired to type this up faster than usual. I really don't like the chapter, personally I think it kinda sucks. So I apologize for the suckyness of this chapter. Well enjoy as much as possible!!!

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**Chapter 3**

_Dinner_

**Marluxia-**

Upon reaching the bottom of the staircase, I was greeted by the golden retriever. She sat down at my feet and looked up at my expectantly. Her face was white, but not completely, so I figured she was at least five or six years old. I got down on one knee and stroked her head. Her tail began to thump against the floor as she attacked my face with her tongue. I petted her for a few minutes more before I straightened up and headed for the dining room. It wouldn't be a very good impression if I arrived to my first dinner here late.

Ms. Avery was busily preparing plates of food in the kitchen as I passed through to the dining room doors. She didn't seem to notice me, which was alright with me. I entered the dining room to discover that I was thankfully not the last one there. One twin, the blonde one named…..Roxas I think was there, along with Zexion. The German Shepard puppy was still sitting in his lap, half asleep as he absentmindedly stroked the puppy's head. Not knowing what else to do I slid into the seat next to him and across from Roxas. Zexion didn't seem to realize my presence next to him, but Roxas did.

"Hi." He said, breaking the silence, causing both Zexion and I to jump, which startled the puppy. Roxas laughed softly under his breath and watched me carefully, waiting for my reply.

"…Hi." I replied, trying my best to resist the urge to break eye contact with him. His face brightened when he smiled again.

"Your name's Marluxia, right?" He asked in a tone that you might use when you chatted with someone about the weather. I nodded in reply.

"Cool. You're pretty quiet you know that?" He continued, leaning back in his chair and yawning.

I shrugged and looked down at the table. "Yeah. I know." I replied just as Demyx entered the room and sat down on Zexion's other side. Axel and Sora entered right behind him, saving me from my conversation with Roxas. They sat down across from me, Sora next to Roxas and Axel next to him. They were having a heated discussion about something. The Golden Retriever and the lazy cat I had seen lounging on the windowsill followed them in.

Roxas watched his Axel and Sora bicker for a minute, before turning his attention back to me. But before he could ask me something else, the door opened again and Ms. Avery entered, carrying the plates I had seen her preparing. She set a plate in front of each of us, pausing long enough at me to ruffle me hair and give me a reassuring smile. She then took her seat at the head of the table and my first dinner with my new family officially began.

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**Sora-**

The minute I was about to take the first bite of my crispy chicken sandwich Lady was at my feet underneath the table. We all secretly fed her underneath the table, but I fed her something almost every night so she had formed a habit of coming to me first. I gave her a look, only to be answered with her pleading eyes. I sighed and tore of a piece of the chicken and dropped it on the floor. She gobbled it up, satisfied, then trotted over to Marluxia.

"Lady! No you had your dinner already." Mom said, giving Lady a stern glare. She returned it by licking Mom's hand. She smiled, of course. Lady could get a smile out of anyone.

"Sora, would you put the dogs out please?" She asked.

"Sure Mom." I slid my chair back and stood.

"Thank you sugar." She said as I walked around to the other side of the table and picked up SnickerDoodle, who was lying at Zexion's feet. I whistled for Lady and ushered her into the kitchen. Instantly she attempted to sneak past me back into the dining room.

"No you little sneak, not this time." I opened the back door and placed SnickerDoodle on the porch. Immediately the puppy took off into the backyard, chasing a squirrel. I turned to look at Lady.

"Come on Ladybug. Go outside and play." She rolled over by my feet and looked up at me. I sighed and dropped to my knees and rubbed her belly. My own stomach rumbled.

I stood. "Out." I pushed her gently outside and quickly closed the door. She watched me through the glass with her expression filled eyes as I returned to the dining room.

"Axel did you finish that paper for creative writing?" Mom asked. Dinner was already half way over, and Marluxia hadn't said a thing. Not one, single thing. True we have been talking mostly about school and stuff, but he could have said something on the subjects we were talking about. Zexion had even said more than he had.

"Yup. 2000 words of pure gold." He said, taking a bite of green beans. Mom raised an eyebrow at him.

"Alright, I guess I'll believe you on it. But when I get your progress report for that class it better have at least a B on it." She immediately turned her attention to me. Uh-oh.

"Sora, did you get your math done? I know you had a lot of it this weekend." She stopped eating and studied my face.

"Weeeeellll….I have almost all of it done. I have one assignment left to finish, and then I'll be all caught up." I caught the look that flashed across her face. "I promise Mom. Really. The next time you see my grade in math it will be up. I promise."

"Alright hon. I believe you more than I believe Axel." She gave me that smile of hers.

"Hey!" Axel's head shot up when he heard his name mentioned. He gave Mom a playful glare before his expression shifted to that look he always got on his face that meant he was about to do something that seemed brilliant to him, but asinine to everyone else.

"I'll make a bet with you Mom." He said. All of us were paying attention to what he was saying, even Marluxia, who had seemed to be off in his own little world. "I'll bet you that I will get an A on that paper. If I win, then you make those homemade blueberry muffins that I've always loved just for me."

"And if you lose?" Mom said, returning Axel's sly smile.

"Then I'll make dinner one night." He said, sitting back in his chair looking satisfied. The rest of us busted up laughing.

"What?" Axel said, looking at each of us in turn, trying to look offended.

"I would rather have you win that bet than see you lose it. I'd rather not get food poisoning." Zexion smirked.

"Well you're in luck Zexy, because that's the best paper Mr. Lankto will ever read in his entire lifetime." Axel shot back.

"Alright boys cool it. And Axel, I accept your bet. I need to make blueberry muffins anyway since Marluxia just moved in. He hasn't had the pleasure of enjoying them yet." She turned to smile at Marluxia, who ducked his head behind his hair when he realized the table conversation had shifted back to him.

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**Marluxia-**

Everyone was staring at me over what? Muffins? What did they want me to say? Muffins were my anti-drug? Hooray for muffins, the best thing since humans discovered fire?

"….Thanks. I love blueberry muffins." Ms. Avery reached over at patted my shoulder reassuringly.

During the course of dinner I had been sitting here trying to figure out exactly why I wasn't saying anything. I had plenty of opportunities to pipe up and join in the conversation, but for some reason I never had. I've never really been shy before in my life. Quiet at times, yes but never shy, even around new people. So why was I being so shy now? I need to say something.

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**Zexion-**

I checked the clock on the wall. Seven-thirty. Good. That meant I would have time to finish that Sodoku and I had been working on for the past week. All I needed was to switch a few numbers around one more time and I would have it. No one seemed to understand why I did Sodokus, especially the ones that took me days at a time to finish. I did them because…well because I felt like it I guess.

Beside me Marluxia had gone silent again after the muffin talk. He was pretty quiet, but something told me he wasn't always like this, and I was sure after a few days and after he got used to us than he would be talkative too.

"Hey Zex, what are we staring in gym tomorrow? I don't remember." Demyx spoke up on the other side of me. Somehow Roxas, Demyx, and I had all ended up in the same gym class this semester. I wouldn't be surprised if Marluxia was in that gym class tomorrow too. I thought back to Friday when Mrs. Jennings was discussing what sport we would play next.

"Racquet ball." I groaned. Racquet ball wasn't my favorite sport. Hell it wasn't even in my top 20.

"Wow. Wonderful. Great." Roxas muttered under his breath. I turned away from Demyx and Roxas who had started talking about racquet ball and decided to strike up conversation with the other tranquil member of the family.

"Hey I'll show you were the office is tomorrow so you can get your schedule." I said. He turned his head to look at me and smiled the first smile I had seen him smile all night.

"Thanks. I probably wouldn't be able to find it anyway. How big is your school?" He asked. I wondered if anyone realized that he was actually speaking.

"It's kind of big. Three levels. But its actually pretty simple. There is a math hallway with all the math classrooms and a science wing. You'll get the hang of it after the first day." I answered.

"Cool." Marluxia muttered back. I knew he would talk eventually.

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**Roxas-**

I nudged Sora in the ribs and motioned with my head across the table. "Hey look he can speak." I whispered. Marluxia was talking to Zexion, though I couldn't hear what, they weren't talking loud enough.

"He just smiled." Sora whispered back. Indeed he had, probably the first time he had smiled in days. We had all heard about why he was here, which gave a good explanation about why he hadn't said much. I knew that he wasn't shy. Just a lot of shit in his life lately. Well everything always got better when you moved in with Mom.

"What do you want to bet he is in my gym class." I smiled at the thought. Sora humphed and crossed his arms.

"That wouldn't be fair. I just had to get stuck in that gym class that's almost all prissy girls who only worry about their makeup and making sure that not even one single strand of hair is out of place." I couldn't help it. I laughed out loud at the look on his face.

"Too bad we can't pull that twin switch thing. If only our hair was the same color." I said, still laughing.

He punched me in the arm. "Yeah. Because then you would be in heaven in that class with all those girls. You're so metro Roxas." Psh as if. I just owned like three more pairs of shoes than him and didn't put on clothes that hadn't been washed in a few days.

"He's got you there." Demyx snickered. I hadn't realized that everyone else had stopped talking and was now listening to us.

"You're more metro than me Dem. You spend more time in the bathroom every morning than anyone else in this house." I shot back. Lame comeback, I know. But I was really sleepy and not on top of things like I usually am.

"BOTH of you are metro sexual." Zexion added in. "It must be the blonde hair."

"Sure Zexion sure. And exactly how do you get your hair in that style without taking over an hour to do it?" Wow I must have been sick or something because these were the worst comebacks in my life.

He shrugged. "It just falls naturally that way."

"I should be metro sexual, considering the color of my hair." Marluxia said. Wait…Marluxia said? Really? Well, you can't stay silent forever. Especially if its picking on each other about being metro.

"And how exactly did you end up with such a fascinating hair color?" Axel said, leaning forward on his elbows in his attempt to look like a newscaster.

"My biological mom's side of the family. Its wonderful isn't it.?" He answered

"It's very beautiful. Very soft and silky and shiny looking." Axel smirked. Marluxia laughed. LAUGHED.

"Genetics suck." He said, smiling.

"That they do." Axel agreed, dropping the newscaster act and shoving his chair back and picking up his plate. The rest of us followed suit.

"Those of you who haven't gotten your homework done go do it now. And I mean now!" Mom said loudly as we left the kitchen after we had dropped our dishes off in the sink.

"Trust me. She makes the best desserts in the world. It doesn't matter what kind of dessert it is, Mom can make them. I keep telling her she should have some cooking show on the food channel, but she keeps claiming that I'm crazy." Axel was saying to Marluxia. They had both sat down on the couch and Demyx was flipping through channels on T.V.

Welcome to the family Marluxia.

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**Review if it pleases you to do so. **

**In the next chapter: Raqcuet Ball...yey!!**


	4. Racquet Ball Glory

**Wooo Chapter 4 is done. I apologize for its shortness. Well it seems kinda short to me...**

**Notes: In racquet ball courts I call the wall with the line on it the back wall and the wall with the door the front wall. The racquet ball courts in my town have like windows you can watch it, so thats what I based them off. **

**Enjoy. **

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**Chapter 4**

_Racquet Ball_

**Marluxia-**

"Well what better way to greet a new student than to start a whole new sport?!?!?!" Mrs. Jennings said….well more like yelled. She was way too happy and bouncy for her own good. After getting my schedule from the office I discovered I had gym third period. The same period as Axel, Roxas, and Zexion. Demyx was in my first period Anatomy class, and I was alone in my second hour. Gym was one of the few classes that it was possible for me to end up with either Sora or Roxas, considering they were a year younger than me.

Mrs. Jennings drug out a crate filled with rackets and racquet balls. "Come on let's go play some racquet ball!!!" She yelled, heading quickly toward the racquet ball courts. I didn't know a school existed that was big enough and had enough money to afford something like racquet ball courts, but this one did.

We gathered around her outside of the courts. "Hmmmmm." She murmured to herself, eyeing each one of us in turn while she picked out teams. A gigantic smile suddenly crossed her face. "I know!! Let's play two on two. And we will put the four brothers together!" She seemed extremely pleased with her "clever" idea. She handed each of a racquet and gave Roxas one of the balls before practically shoving us onto one of the courts.

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**Roxas-**

Wow this was totally awesome. Who even invented racquet ball anyway? And what was the point in it? To hit a little blue bouncy ball against a wall and attempt to duck out of the way when it came flying back at you? A lot of people claimed it to be like tennis. But it wasn't anywhere close to being like tennis. I liked tennis. I was on the tennis team in the fall. And trust me, tennis is NOTHING like racquet ball.

"Serve it Rox." Zexion called from behind me. Axel and I were one team and Zexion and Marluxia were the other. I timidly dropped the ball on the ground and hit it on its way back up. Unfortunately I had bad aim and the ball hit the high up on the wall, almost on the ceiling. I had put enough force behind it that it ricocheted off the back wall to the front wall behind Mar and Zex. Brilliant.

"Just serve it again." Marluxia said, shifting his racquet from one hand to the other. I retrieved the ball as it went rolling past my feet and dropped it again. This time though I hit it sooner, and it went to about the middle of the wall, with more force than before. Zexion and Marluxia dodged in opposite ways as the ball slammed into the wall between them. I ducked as it came flying back at me with a vengeance.

"Good one. 1-0." Axel said, twirling his racket around while he leaned against the wall that he was standing by. "This is an easier sport than I thought."

I served it again, but this time Marluxia hit it back, and Axel and I both went after it. We both pulled back at the last second and it bounced in between us. I caught the ball as it bounced back up and tossed it to Mar as Axel and I switched them spots.

Marluxia had a better serve than I anticipated and I missed the ball by a mile twice in a row. Axel and I switched spots in hope that he could return the serve better than I could. On his first attempt he missed it just like I had. By now the score was 3-1, with us losing. Axel shifted his position on the court as Marluxia started to serve the ball again. I could tell Axel was determined to hit it this time.

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**Zexion-**

It's amazing how I have the worst timing in the world for EVERYTHING. I had been leaning against the wall, zoning out, wondering if Roxas and Axel were ever going to return it. I turned around to watch Axel just in time to watch him hit the ball with full force. There was a loud THUNK and the next thing I knew I was laying back on the well polished floor. Marluxia was standing over me as Axel yelled some obscenity.

"You all right?" Marluxia asked me as Roxas and Axel joined him in looking down on me. Not very comfortable in such a vulnerable position, I sat up quickly and got to my feet.

"Yea yea I'm fine. Just serve it again." I searched around from my fallen racket and retrieved it. I went back to my place but the other three were still staring at me. "What?" I asked, annoyed. Why the hell were they all looking at me like that?

"Dude. You should see your face." Roxas said. My hands flew up to my face.

"Shit I'm sorry Zex. I wasn't aiming for your face like that I swear." Axel said, looking guilty. Just then Mrs. Jennings opened the door to our court.

"Come on Zexion. You should go put water on it." What was she talking about? I could take a simple racquet ball to the face. It didn't hurt that bad. Sure it stung for a couple minutes but I was fine now, wasn't I? I followed her off the court and entered the bathroom.

A large welt stretched across from my nose and up the side of my face. The entire right side of my face was bright red and my eye looked weird, like I was going blind or something.

That's attractive.

All the paper towels were gone so I attempted to put water on it using only my hands and returned to the racquet ball courts. Mrs. Jennings was standing outside the window that looked into my brothers' court. They had switched to playing cut throat. She examined my face as I came up next to her.

"You're gonna have a welt on your face for a few days at the least. But hopefully your eye will heal sooner than that." She smiled that annoying perky smile of hers at me. I turned to look away from her and watched my brothers instead. Marluxia side stepped as the murderous ball attempted to claim another victim in the face.

By the time gym was over my face still looked horrible. Roxas had gotten nailed in the shin, Axel was slammed in the stomach, and Marluxia had been whacked in the back of the head. But none of those injuries showed like mine did. I sighed, covering the damaged side of my face with my hand.

It was going to be a wonderful two weeks of gym.

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**Review if you wish.**

**And in case your wondering, yes I did base this off a true event, and yes I just happened to be the one who was nailed in the face with the ball. The welt looked kinda cool though...**

**Next Chapter: The Game of Love. ..oooooooo**


	5. Lost in the Game of Love

**Woo I'm so happy I got this up during production week :-) Enjoy! I kind of like this chapter, I enjoyed writing it!**

**Disclaimer: read first chapter**

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**Chapter 5**

_Lost in the Game of Love_

**Sora-**

"What the fuck is a wen room?" Riku turned to me with a puzzled look. We were passing through the math hallway in between classes on our way to Pre-Calculus. Last week every room in the building had gotten shiny new name plates that stated the room number and which teacher taught useless things to students who didn't care. One room wasn't given a number and simply labeled "Wen Room."

"How in the hell should I know?" I answered as Riku pressed himself against the door, looking through the little window in the middle of it. Zexion passed me as Riku busily informed me of the rather boring objects in the "Wen Room."

"Hey Zexy!" I exclaimed loudly, knowing very well that Zexion hated that nickname. He looked at me out of the corner of his eyes, but said nothing and kept his face blank. It had been a week since the racquet ball incident, and there was no trace of the hit on his face anymore. For the days following his whack to the face, Zexion had carefully brushed his hair over his face as usual, but had spent a lot of time shifting strands around to cover the welt. Yuffie was half-skipping along side of him, talking enthusiastically about something. She gave me a big smile and wave as they passed, making me wonder as I had thousands of times before of exactly how they had become friends. They were nothing more than that and would never be anything more than that, but even as friends they were total opposites.

Riku returned to my side. "Nothing special in the amazing wen room. Just some tables and a TV rolly cart and crap like that. Come on we are going to be late for math." He said hurrying down the hallway, leaving me to follow quickly in his wake.

It should be illegal to have math first period.

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**Marluxia-**

"Uck. This is soooo nasty!" Larxene yelled, dropping the probe she had been holding.

"Aw come on my Lark. It's just a wee little fishy." Axel picked up the dead, half dissected fish and brought it up next to his face and pouted, trying to imitate the fish's face. He took a step closer to her. "Little Murphy loves you!" He sang loudly to her. She shrieked and backed up against the lab table. Axel and Larxene confused me. They were "together" but not "officially dating" according to Axel. They never acted intimate at all, at least of what I had seen, but they did spend a lot of time together. Larxene was pretty much a female version of Axel. She was fiery and unpredictable, but she didn't have an extreme attitude or wasn't very temper mental…ok well sometimes she could be, but not on a daily basis.

Axel finished teasing his sort of girlfriend and returned "Little Murphy" to the dissecting plate. When you see pictures of the inside of the fish it seems like it would be really easy to dissect it and identify all of its little fishy organs. But once you finally get the trunk of the fish cut away, it's a completely different story. Everything is a huge bunch and it's very very VERY frustrating.

"So what's on your agenda after school today?" Axel asked Larxene when she had finally come back to join us around the fish.

"Cheerleading practice, duh you know that pyroface." She snidely remarked, carefully picking up her probe again and shoving it into the fish's eye. Liquid gelled out of the eye and cascaded down its operculum.

"Ah yes that's right. With Kairi and Namine and all those other girls who enjoy spending two hours of their life every day waving pompoms in the air and dancing like they are at a stripper club." He joined his hands high over his head and started to swivel his hips around. I snorted and started laughing as Axel left the area around our lab table and started to dance his way around the other lab tables. Thankfully Ms. Barberry was occupied with the other anatomy teacher in the doorway. Larxene watched him with a disapproving glare, trying her hardest to not break it with the smile that was threatening to come through.

"AXEL!! This isn't your social hour! You need to have that fish dissected by the end of class!" Ms. Barberry had returned to find Axel rolling across the floor in interpretive dance motions. He rejoined us to finish mutilating the slightly rotting fish.

"I'm off to go meet Kairi. Later love. See ya Mar." Larxene called to us both as she headed off around a corner after first period. Kairi. Now she was a different story. I had met her when I had met Namine and Larxene on my first day of school. Instantly she had captivated me, the way she was soft-spoken, but far from being shy. She was always tolerant and nice to everybody and always had everyone's back, even those of people who didn't have hers. When she left her hair down it came to just around her shoulders, slightly coming around to meet the corners of her eyes. She loved experimenting with different hairstyles. She would crimp her hair or fill a pony tail with tight spirals. At first I denied it to myself that I had a crush on her, but it was starting to become apparent that I was falling for the girl.

"Isn't she great?" Axel said as we started to walk down the hall.

"Who?" I was dozing off in my own thoughts. Axel sighed and punched my arm. "Larxene shithead."

"Oh. Yea. Right. Sure." I didn't mean to sound like I didn't care what Axel was talking about, but I couldn't help it. My mind was thinking of someone else.

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**Demyx-**

Damn it. I was so late. I had to stay after to hand in my late English assignment to Mrs. Fern, whose classroom just happened to be on the other side of the school than where the cars were parked. Out of my five brothers and I, were shared a total of 3 cars, even though Roxas and Sora didn't drive much. We had only taken two to school today though, and now they were probably all waiting on me.

I hurried my way quickly through the almost empty hallways, intent on getting to the cars before they left with out me. I was in such a hurry I didn't see the fair-haired girl going the opposite direction of me.

We ran straight into each other, causing all the books and papers she was holding to go flying. She was knocked down by the sudden force of my weight, and I was knocked down by my own clumsiness. I opened my mouth to apologize, but before I could, my voice left me at the sight of who I had run into.

It was Namine. Quiet, shy Namine. We were part of the same group of friends, but it seemed like whenever she was around I lost my voice. On the rare occasion I got it back I never failed to stutter.  
"Oh! Dem! I'm sorry! Gah I'm so uncoordinated sometimes." She giggled softly and began to gather her things back together. I forced myself to stop staring at her, mouth agape, and quickly began to pick up papers and lay them neatly on top of each other. I watched her pick up her things, her angel-like hair floating around her head like a halo. I really needed to tell her how I felt. I really needed to tell her I liked her, and soon. I needed to tell her _now. _

"Hey N-Namine?" I said softly, mentally slapping myself for stuttering at a time like this. She looked up at me as she placed everything in a neat pile. "Yes Demyx?" She answered, her voice as soft as a gentle summer breeze.

Shakily, I helped her to her feet. "I just…I just wanted to tell you t-th-that I think that I…I" This is it. Here we go. The moment of truth.

"Hey! There you are! Come on Dem!" Them. Them of all people to show up now. All five of them were now standing behind me. Roxas latched onto my arm and pulled me away from Namine.

"See ya Nami!" Axel called over his shoulder as we rounded the corner and down the stairs to the back parking lot where the cars were parked.

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**Axel-**

"What's wrong Dem?" Roxas asked as we weaved our way across the parking lot. He sighed and looked down at the pavement. "Nothing I guess." He mumbled. We all exchanged puzzling looks but let the subject drop.

"Oh, Axel Mr. Lankto told me to give you this." Marluxia held out a paper to me. It must be my creative writing assignment! I had made I bet with Mom that I would get an A and no less than that. Quickly I unfolded the paper and eagerly glanced at the red grade at the top of the paper.

It was an 89.

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**One point from an A NOOOOOOOOOO. :-)**

**review if it so pleases you**

**Next Chapter: Hide and Seek **


	6. Hide and Seek

**Chapter 6. Woot. I got this chapter up really early because I'm going on spring break on Friday and won't update for over a week. But I will be able to get on and check stuff and read all your lovely stories. **

**Notes: "the playground equipment" is just the main part of the playground that has the slides and the monkey bars coming off of it, if you get what I'm saying. The playground is also on sand like most playgrounds are. I based this park off of one of the parks in my town, so I'm sorry if its kind of hard to follow, especially where the parking lot is. I tried to explain it as best as I could. Sand tennis courts as the courts that look kind of like grass, but are covered in little pieces of tennis sand. And it gets _everywhere. _**

**Extras: This is probably the longest chapter I've ever written in anything. So enjoy the long chapter! And each of the six main characters is featured in this chapter too! Woo!**

**Disclaimer: See chapter one**

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**Chapter 6**

_Hide and Seek_

**Roxas-**

Larxene let out a screech as Axel chased her around the playground. It was kind of amusing, considering that Axel was a total clutch on sand. It was a warm Friday night. Namine and Kairi were sitting on the swings, Marluxia, Riku, and Zexion were all sitting on the merry go round. I was sitting on top of the jungle gym with Sora and Olette, and Demyx and Hayner were on the playground equipment with Yuffie. Everyone was busy watching Larxene and Axel, the former having stopped to throw sand playfully in Axel's direction.

"What time is it?" Olette asked to no one in particular, as Axel and Larxene finally stopped messing around. A blue light lit up Kairi's face as she opened her cell phone to check. "12:00 on the dot." she answered, shutting her phone and sliding it into the safety of her pocket once more.

Midnight. What was there for a bunch of teenagers to do at midnight in a park? "We should play hide and seek or sardines or something." Hayner said, as if he had read my mind.

"This park is so big. Why don't we just play tag hide and seek to make it more interesting?" Riku said, standing up from the merry go round and brushing any sand might be clinging to his pants. Out of the corner of my eye I noticed Sora watching him. All the boys immediately agreed to the idea, causing me to forget about my brother. He was probably looking at something else anyway. The girls exchanged nervous glances, but none of them voiced their opinions.

No one wanted to search first, especially the girls. Zexion took a hat out of one of the cars and put every one's name on crumpled pieces of paper and held it out to Demyx, who was standing closest to him. He drew Olette's name who pouted slightly but agreed to look for everyone else first. Olette stayed sitting in one of the slides counting as everyone else charged off in opposite directions.

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**Zexion-**

I spun around in a slow circle, trying to find a hiding place. Behind a tree was way to obvious, so was the pavilion. But there was hardly anywhere else to hide in this park. I scanned over my meager options and was thinking of hiding in the bathrooms when my eyes landed on the bench in the tennis courts. The benches were lower and smaller than normal benches, but it was the best place I could find right now.

"67…68…69…" Olette was getting close. Quickly I ran softly down the hill, the grass wet from when it had rained earlier. I entered the tennis courts and lay down on the ground so I could roll under the bench. The park had sand tennis courts, the sand mixing into my hair and sticking to my clothes as I rolled underneath the bench, pulling my knees up so I fit under it.

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**Marluxia-**

How was I supposed to know where to hide in this park? This was my first time being here, and everything was big and kinda open in several places. Everyone else seemed to know where they wanted to hide. I headed into the darker part of the park that didn't have any large street light style lamps in it. The only light was from the street lights on the nearby street, and they only illuminated little spots here and there on the edge of the park. I passed by the pavilion and the bathrooms, knowing they were way too easy. But everything else was pretty much trees. Trees of all shapes and sizes. To my left was a particular large tree, with more branches than I could even see. Making a split decision I latched onto the lowest branch. It took me what seemed like forever to get onto the branch, but after that it was easy. I climbed up a couple more branches until I was on a large one and leaned against the trunk to brace myself from falling.

"96…97…98…"

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**Demyx-**

Where to hide where to hide where to hide? It seemed like everyone had found their spots already. Quickly I scanned my surroundings. The pavilion! Perfect! I rushed into the pavilion and went into the grill part that was separated from the tables by a low stone wall. I crawled under the grill, accidentally putting my knee down in an old pile of grease.

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**Sora-**

"31…32…33…34" I still had plenty of time to hide. And I knew exactly where to hide too. The bathrooms. All I had to do is stand on top of the toilet closest to the wall. Olette would never think to look there. Plus this way I was right next to the window so I could look outside and watch for her without totally giving myself away. I got as comfortable as possible leaning against the old, cracked wall, leaning forward occasionally to look out the grimy window. Olette was only in the 40's. I leaned back against the wall again, having plenty of time to think. Of course my thoughts drifted toward my current problem. Lately I had been thinking of Riku as….more than a friend. But that couldn't be right. Riku had been my best friend since I had moved here, and I wasn't gay, there was no possible way I could be gay…could there?

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**Axel-**

It had been awhile since I had played hide and seek in this park, and this time I wanted a different hiding spot, one where no one would even think to look. I wandered around a while, trying to think of the best place to hide, when I hit me. I shuffled across the grass towards the cars. I crawled carefully underneath the black Cobalt that Marluxia, Zexion, and I had taken here. I stared up at the bottom of the car, listening to Olette count out loud.

"48…49…50…"

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**Roxas-**

As soon as we scattered I knew exactly where to hide. Right in the middle of the lighted part of the park is a slope. It starts downhill, then evens out, and then goes downhill again. At the bottom of the hill were the tennis courts, across from them, the bathrooms. Once you crossed the sidewalk passed the bathrooms, you were in the dark part of the park, where the pavilion was. But I wasn't going to hide in the dark part with everybody else; I was going to hide in the light part. On the beginning of the hill was a bundle of bushes, placed around in a circle with a skinny tree in the middle. It was right next to the curved parking lot where the cars were parked. I hopped over the bushes and pressed up against one so I wouldn't be easily seen.

"98…99…100! Alright here I come!"

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**Marluxia-**

"Alright here I come!" Olette sang out. That's when it struck me. This was _tag _hide and seek, which meant at some point I had to make the decision to jump from the tree and make it back to the playground.

I had no idea how I was going to pull that off.

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**Zexion-**

Olette's voice rang out as I shift in my spot underneath the tiny bench. The tennis sand starting to find its way into my eyes. I rubbed my right eye with the heel of my hand and tried to shift so I could see out of the tennis courts and see where Olette was. She was standing just outside the tennis court's fence. I stopped moving and watched her feet. Luckily there was a bush growing outside the fence right in front of my bench, so you couldn't see my right away, unless she caught my movement. Slowly she left my sight, her shoes squishy across the wet grass. Now all I had to do was figure out when she had moved far enough away for me to make my escape.

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**Axel-**

Unfortunately the best hiding place in the whole park didn't let me see shit. To my left was the street, and if I turned my head right all I could see was the sidewalk. I listened carefully for footsteps, but couldn't tell. Something was shifting around near me, but I was pretty sure it wasn't Olette. I rolled over to the edge of the car and carefully peeked out. Roxas was hiding near me, in the little bush circle. Clever. I spotted Olette crossing over to the dark side of the park as I slid back underneath the car.

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**Sora-**

Just as I knew she would Olette passed by the bathrooms, only lingering for a second before continuing on. I should have ran for base then, but decided to hold back. As soon as she was past the bathrooms I hopped off my hiding spot and peeked around the door, watching her get closer to the pavilion on the dark side.

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**Marluxia-**

Olette passed underneath me without even thinking to look up. I pulled my head away from the trunk and tried to figure out how to make my escape. But when I pulled my head away, something came with it. I carefully placed my hand on the side of my head, discovering a large glob of sap had made its way into my hair.

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**Demyx-**

She was getting closer. I could hear her shoes against the grass, making a squick noise. The sound stopped as she stepped onto the concrete floor of the pavilion. I couldn't see her, but I knew she was checking the tables. She was getting closer and in a second she would come around the side to look in the grilling area. I was planning my great escape when there was a loud shriek from the tables. A girl's voice started laughing as she ran away from Olette. Namine. I was hiding that close to _Namine? _Quickly I stood, hitting my head hard on the bottom of the grill. I collapsed back to my knees, landing in the old piles of grease that had gathered underneath the grill. Moaning I scrambled from underneath it, holding my head where I had nailed it on the cold metal. I slipped around the trees and made my way as fast as I could back to the slides.

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**Marluxia-**

I watched Olette carefully pick her way around the tables. I could see Namine from where I was in my tree, attempting to pry the sap from my hair, only succeeding in making it worse. I sighed in annoyance and focused on getting myself out of the tree. As she got closer to Namine, I figured this was the time to make my escape. I slid down one branch as quietly as I could. But Namine shrieked, indicating she had been found. I was now in plain sight and had to get out of the tree. I jumped down to the ground, landing hard enough to lose my balance. There was a loud clang as something hit metal behind me, but I didn't have time to look to see what it was. I stumbled back to my feet and ran off towards the playground.

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**Roxas-**

Olette had discovered someone, but I didn't know who. All of a sudden the park was full of noise. Someone screeched and started laughing, Olette was yelling something, there was a thudding noise as if something had fallen from a high distance, and a loud clang echoed through the park. Not wasting anytime I jumped out of my hiding spot in the bush, twigs and leaves stuck in my hair and attached to my clothes. There were people all over the place. I stumbled down the hill, the big curly slide that was base in my sight. I raced toward it, knowing Olette would never look catch me now.

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**Axel-**

Olette discovering someone somehow signaled everyone to make a break for it. The park was loud with several different noises as I rolled out from underneath the car just as Roxas vacated his spot. I attempted to sprint my way around Olette, who was standing smack center in the middle of the park under a light.

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**Sora-**

Olette was right in my path to safety. Behind her I watched Zexion quickly leave the tennis courts and slip by right behind her. I looked for an alternate route, but Olette had me in her sight. I started to sprint around her when I heard someone call out my name. I stopped in my path, looking for who it was. Olette collided straight into me, both of us falling to the ground on the sidewalk right in front of the playground.

Olette gasped and scrambled off of stop of me. "Sora! I'm so sorry! I didn't mean to run into you! Are you ok?" He sat up, shaking hair out of my eyes. "Yea, yea I'm fine." I turned my hand around to look at the palm, it was bleeding from a cut right in the middle of it. I must have skidded across it when we had fallen.

I kept reassuring Olette that I was alright as we made our way back to the rest of the group who were gathered around the playground equipment.

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**Axel-**

"This is probably the most bizarre and violent game of hide and seek I've ever seen." Larxene said as Sora and Olette joined us. I had to admit she was right. Sora was bleeding, Roxas was covered in twigs and leaves, Demyx, who's clothes were covered in grease spots, was holding his head, Zexion rubbing his eyes to get tiny bits of tennis sand out of them. I could spot the little pieces all over him too. Without realizing it I had laid my head in a puddle of oil from a car that had been there before ours, so now my red hair was covered in black. Marluxia was studying what looked like syrup in his hair with utter distaste.

Riku started to laugh, everyone else following suit. "It must be a family curse or something." I surveyed everyone again, realizing that everyone but us was fine. When they finally settled down Kairi yawned.

"Maybe we should go home now. I'm sleepy." Everyone seemed to agree to that, and headed to our cars to return to our homes

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**Zexion-**

"Where did you hide Mar?" I asked as we entered our neighborhood. Marluxia was sitting up front with Axel, who was driving. Marluxia glanced at me in the rearview mirror.

"A tree." He stated, as he attempted to rake the sap out of his hair. Axel pulled into the driveway. Axel got out of the car, checking to see if he had gotten any oil on the seat and Dem and the twins pulled up.

"This is going to be fun to explain to Mom." Roxas sighed as we headed up the porch.

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**Ta-da! Don't you just love long chapters?**

**Review if it so pleases you **

**Next Chapter: Axel cooks dinner**


	7. Playing Chef

**Gah I sorry for the slowness of this chapter. I started typing it a loooonnnggg time ago, but I've been real lazy since spring break ended. But no worries I promise not to be this slow again. **

**I got the lasagna recipe from Except I only followed the recipe half-way. :-)**

**Disclaimer: See Chapter One**

**Also this chapter contains quite alot of cursing here and there. But cooking is stressful...so you understand.**

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**Chapter 7**

_Playing Chef_

**Zexion-**

Sundays have always been a favorite day of the week for me. I can't really explain why. Maybe because it's usually the night Mom makes her biggest dinners that take all day to make. Or maybe because my brothers aren't pulling me all over town. Don't get me wrong, I like them and like hanging out with them, but sometimes they can be overwhelming, especially when you don't feel good. There have been plenty of weekends I had a cold or a major headache and they still convince (or rather force) me to go somewhere. The only time they let me stay home is if I'm really sick, emptying my stomach in the bathroom every hour.

This particular Sunday everyone had gathered in the living room, lounging around or playing the Wii. I still can't figure out Sora had managed to get one only a few weeks after they came out, but he did. Demyx and Roxas were attempting to play tennis against each other, which was quite amusing. Snicker Doodle was sitting in my lap, sleeping. I had brought her with me when I had moved here, I didn't dare leave her at home where my "dad" lived, or whatever you would call that bastard. It didn't matter now though. I didn't have a father, and I was never going back. I only had a mother and 5 brothers, and that was fine with me.

"Axel, sweetheart, maybe you should go start now." Mom stated, not looking up from her book. Axel stared at her, puzzled. "Start what?" He replied, raising an eyebrow.

Mom smiled and looked up to meet his eyes. "Dinner. I remember clearly on Friday you got your paper back, and it was an 89, one point from an A. You promised me that you would cook a home made dinner if I won the bet." Sora barked out a laugh, startling Fernagard, who was sunning herself on the window sill.

"Aw come on Mom, why Sunday? Can't I do it tomorrow?" He gave her the puppy dog eyes. "Pwease pwease purdy _purdy _pweeeaaaassseee?" Mom attempted to look serious, but her eyes were filled with laughter. "Don't give me that Ax, I'm sure it will be delicious." Axel sighed heavily and got off the couch. "Fine, but don't complain if it's burnt!" He yelled over his shoulder as he entered the kitchen.

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**Axel-**

I don't usually cook. I have a tendency to burn things. Don't ask why, it just happens. I opened the pantry first, to see if I could get away with one of the easy bake things, but no such luck. There was hardly anything dinner-like in there, expect for lasagna noodles and spaghetti sauce. I investigated the fridge and discovered Mom had decided for me what I should make.

Lasagna.

Garlic Bread.

Salad.

Chocolate cream pie.

Luckily all I had to do with the pie was take it out of the freezer so it would defrost a little. But lasagna of all things for her to pick! I knew there was no way of getting around burning it some how. Salad I could make. Just throw it all in a bowl. Ta-da! Just like cereal. Plus it didn't involve an oven, or stove, or anything.

I rummaged around in the kitchen for 5 minutes before I found a pan suitable for lasagna. I set it down carefully on top of the stove and found a big bowl for the salad, and a cookie sheet to put the garlic bread on. As I set the cookie sheet down on the counter, I caught sight of a piece of paper on the center island. It was a lasagna recipe I could follow. I sighed in mental relief. At least she had been kind enough to provide me with that.

"Alright so I guess I have to brown the meat and cook the noodles…." I mumbled to myself. I filled a pan with water and set it on a burner, and then retrieved a skillet to brown the meat in. It couldn't be too hard to brown meat.

I slid the raw chunk of meat onto the skillet and sat down on the floor, waiting for the water to heat up and the meat to start sizzling. I had watched mom brown meat a million times before, and she made it look easy enough. And then I just had to follow that recipe and it would all turn out perfect.

Or at least edible.

I heard a telltale sizzle from above me and stood to inspect. The meat was starting to brown on the bottom, and the water was just starting to boil. Carefully I placed the noodles in the water before turning to the meat. Fork. I needed a fork. As I turned around to head to the silverware drawer, my first mishap of the night happened. My elbow knocked into the handle of the skillet, causing it to crash down on my foot and send the blob of meat rolling across the floor.

"….FUUUUUUCCCCKK."

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**Sora-**

**"**Ow…..Shit!"

Axel's loud cursing was muffled, but still clear as a bell. Luckily Mom had retired from the living room to go take a shower before dinner. We all exchanged silent glances before we started snickering. It had taken Axel less than 10 minutes to begin cussing about whatever. After a while he died down, and the kitchen was quiet again. We had turned the Wii off and Roxas was now flipping through various channels. Zexion was in his usual spot in the large black recliner, reading. Marluxia was leaned against the arm rest of the large couch, doing math homework it looked like. Demyx was sprawled out on the floor with his notebook, an agitated look on his face. And me, well I was sitting in one of the white chairs, trying to figure out what the hell was my problem. There was no possible way I could be in love with my best friend in more than a best friend way. I was straight. Not bi, certainly not gay. I had dated plenty of girls before moving here, but they just weren't my type. That's all. That's the reason all those relationships failed…right? Maybe I was just going through a phase. That had to be it. I bet every teenager goes through a dumb phase that they think they are in love with their best friend, and after awhile, they figure out that they aren't. It's just my turn to go through the little phase.

I hope.

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**Axel-**

I threw another pound of meat into the skillet, and threw the old one away. Mom had supplied two of them so I could make a very meaty lasagna. So much for that. I chopped the meat up into little pieces quickly and checked on the noodles. They were slightly overdone. Crap. I pulled them out of the water and set them on a plate and emptied the pan and placed it in the sink and returned to the meat. How did Mom manage this almost every night?

The skillet was already really hot so it didn't take very long for the meat to brown. I took the skillet off the hot burner and placed it on a back one out of the way and looked at the recipe again.

Preheat the oven to 350.

Mix meat into sauce.

Cover the bottom of the pan with sauce.

Layer noodles on top of it.

_Hey this wasn't so hard now_. _I can do this. ...Aw damnit! _Just as I was attempting to layer the sauce, ricotta and mozzarella cheese over the noodles, the sauce pan tipped over, spilling a good amount of it across the counter and stove top. Groaning I cleaned up the spilled sauce as best as I could.

I finally got the lasagna layered perfectly, with a little less sauce and meat, but no doubt it was in there. Carefully I picked up the pan to move it so I could clean the counter off a little to make the salad while the lasagna was cooking.

I'll admit I'm not the most coordinated person in the world, so it's no surprise I ended up on the floor on my stomach, sauce and cheese flicked across my face. Apparently tomato sauce splatters more than I thought, so there had been some on the floor I had never even seen. Luckily enough the pan landed upright in my hands, it just splattered a little…ok well a lot. I would have to remake the top two layers.

"Axel do you need any help?" Mom's voice. The kitchen door was opening. Quickly I scrambled to my feet, pushing my back up against the door to keep her out. "Everything is fine, Mom. Don't worry about it."

She paused, as if thinking about it. "Well alright sweetheart. Just holler if you need anything." The pressure on the door went slack as she went back into the living room. I breathed a sigh of relief and retrieved the half ruined lasagna, and began to remake the top two layers, after I cleaned the floor this time.

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**Demyx-**

_Dear Namine: We have been friends for awhile now, and its been great. You're an awesome friend and…_

I tore the piece of paper out of my notebook and started again.

_Hey Namine you're a great friend and all but we should take it to the next level. You, me, dinner next weekend. Maybe a little make-out session afterward…_

Wow. No way. Much too forward…and creepy. She would probably think I was a stalker/killer freak and she was my newest victim. Tearing that piece out I started a third time.

_Beloved Nami: Thou hast the most beautiful eyes this young lad has ever had the utmost privilege of gazing into. Thou hast thee most lustrous lips and thy has gently lock of hair that…_

When did we become a bad version of Romeo and Juliet?

_Dear Namine: I love you._

Hmm. Not bad. Short, sweet and too the point. But if I gave her this she would probably ignore me forever. Hell I didn't even know if she liked me back or not. I sighed heavily, thudding my head down on my notebook. I'm hopeless.

Something smells like its burning….

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**Axel-**

Alright. All I had was salad left. The lasagna was almost done and I had just decided to throw the garlic bread in there with it about 10 minutes ago. I dumped a bag of lettuce into a bowl and started skinning a cucumber.

_Something smells like its burning somewhere…oh shit. _"Hey Ax anything wrong?" Roxas opened the kitchen door a crack. I jumped, slicing my finger open with the knife.

"Everything is fine Rox. It will be ready soon." I clamored across the kitchen to the oven, opening it and peering cautiously inside. Carefully I pulled out the garlic bread. One loaf of it was slightly burned, but no one would notice. The lasagna though…The top layer of sauce and cheese was almost completely black. I didn't have anytime to redo it, and besides I wanted to be done with this already. I sprinkled a layer of left-over mozzarella cheese across the top, hiding the burnt part nicely. I switched the oven off and returned to skinning and slicing the cucumber, trying my best to keep my bloodied finger away from it. I threw in some olives and grape tomatoes, and whole carrots. Hell I was tired and didn't have time to cut them anyway. I picked up the lasagna and carried it slowly to the dining room, staring at the floor as I went. My shoulder ran into a wall once, but nothing bad happened. I did the same with the garlic bread and salad, and quickly set the table.

"Come get your God damn dinner!" I yelled, entering the bathroom beyond the dining room in search of a band-aid.

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**Marluxia-**

"Axel! Don't you want to come eat the lovely dinner you made?" Mom called. A disheveled Axel exited the bathroom and sat down wearily in his chair. "Not in particularly." A piece of lasagna was passed to him anyway.

The twins tore into their slices immediately, but I examined mine anyway. The top was kinda burnt, but it didn't really matter. It didn't taste bad. It tasted like…well lasagna.

"Oh Axel sugar thank you for making dinner. It's wonderful." Mom said. Mom. It was still kinda weird calling her that. At first I didn't really call her anything, but after awhile I started calling her Mom like everyone else. The first time I had called her that she had gotten this giant smile on her face, like I had told her she had inherited a million dollars. Not like she didn't have a lot of money anyway. Her parents had been very rich, and all the money had gone to her when they both passed away. She also got money from the state to help her run her group home.

"And just for that, I'll make some special blueberry muffins, just for you and your hard work." She beamed at him. "Thanks Mom." Axel said, shoving an olive across his plate.

"Marly, did you call your sister back yet?" Mom said, switching her attention to me. Lizzie had called earlier, but I hadn't had time yet to call her back. "I'll call her as soon as dinner is over." I replied. I missed Lizzie, but I knew she was pretty happy where she was. Every time she called me she had a new story to tell me about.

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**Roxas-**

The dinner table grew silent as everyone focused on their dessert. Right at this time I was deciding that my life was pretty good now. Good house, good siblings, good Mom, good friends. A lot better than life was before. Truthfully, I wasn't planning on going back to that life, if that life ever got sorted out. I liked it here. It was like a family should be. I was just starting on cutting down on my pill doses, which made me happy that I wouldn't need to be as dependant on them anymore, and eventually I wouldn't need them at all.

That's when Mom decided to drop the news.

"I have something to tell you all." Mom started, to get all of our attention. Once everyone was focused on her she said, "On Wednesday all your social workers are coming….with you're…..parents. For a visiting day. Any siblings you have will be there too. Won't that be lovely?"

As lovely as failing my semester math test.

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**Please review if it does so please you:-)**

**Next Chapter: A Girl's Point of View**


	8. A Girl's Point of View

**Ack...I apologize for the extreme lateness of this chapter. I meant to have it up about a week ago. Unfortuanatly I got swamped with homework...and to be honest I was being kind of lazy. But no worries I have returned and will stop being so lazy all the time.**

**This chapter is kind from some of the Girl's point of view, so its kind of short. But try to enjoy it anyway. The next chapter should be super long to make up for the short one**

**If anyone has any idea of something I should put in my story, I will glady take suggestions, because I've started hitting writers block. AHHHHH!!!!! So just write me a message if you have any good ideas. :-)**

**Disclaimer: See chapter 1**

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**Chapter 8**

_A Girl's Point of View_

**Namine:**

_Dear Demyx: Well…I know we have been friends for awhile and that I should be doing this face to face but As you know I'm extremely shy…so all I want you to know is that…I like you and……and yea. I like you._

Yuck.

_Beloved Dem: I like you…no I love you…everything about you. The way you wrinkle your nose when your thinking, the way you laugh, that way you kid around with your brothers, the way you play guitar, the way you draw, the color of your hair, the color of your eyes…_

No. Just no. Shying I ripped the discarded piece out and stared blankly down at the fresh one before starting for a third time.

_Demyx: I love you. Kiss me or die._

"God what's wrong with me!?!" I yelled, staring up at the top of the row of forest green lockers. If I wasn't so shy I could've just told him to his face by now, and we would have lived happily ever after. Ok I'm exaggerating. He might wrinkle his nose in that adorable way and think it was totally weird and tell me he didn't see it that way. And then whenever we were around each other there would be awkward silences and uncomfortable side-glances and….

"Whatcha writing Nami?" Larxene snatched the discarded papers that had been lying next to me as she passed on her way to her locker. Kairi followed in not far behind her, slinging her backpack off her should and onto the bench.

"No Larxene its nothing at all just don't…." But by now Larxene had a small smile playing softly across her lips. She raised her eyes to look at me, amusement filling them to the brim.

"Aw do you have a crush on _Demyx!" _She cried out gleefully. Thankfully we were the only three in the locker room. Blushing furiously I pulled my white tennis shoes on, avoiding Larxene's gaze. She came and sat down next to me.

"Don't worry Namine. I won't tell anybody if you don't want me to. You know that." She slung her arm around me. I was still fighting against the embarrassment and anger that was building in my stomach, but I knew her words rang true. Larxene had never told someone's secret. Kairi came and sat down on my other side, pulling her faded cheerleading shirt on.

"I bet he likes you back too." She added, slinging her arm around me just the same as Larxene had a moment before. I smiled lightly, hoping she was speaking the truth.

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**Larxene-**

I know what you're thinking. Me, a cheerleader? At first glance I know I don't strike as the cheerleading type. But back when I was a freshman my parents told me I had to either join cheerleading or volleyball in the off-season for tennis. Volleyball has absolutely no appeal to me, mainly because the girls on the volleyball team think they are better than the tennis team. So I joined cheerleading. And it turned out to not be as bad as I thought it would be, and I've just kinda stuck with it ever since.

Namine, Kairi, and I make up a weird trio. Namine has always been shy and quiet, ever since I can remember, way back when I met her in third grade. Even back then I was the total opposite of her, outgoing and loud, but for some reason we attracted. Kairi came into the group around fifth grade. Her personality fits right in between Namine's and my own. She is kind of a mix of both of us together.

I finished changing and started putting on my shoes, watching Namine carefully tuck the papers back into her notebook and lock it in her locker. Kairi stood in front of the large mirror, sweeping her hair up into a high ponytail.

"You should just ask him out." I blurted. I knew it was hard for Namine to do stuff like that, but I never could understand exactly why. It couldn't be that hard could it? I mean I did it when Axel was new, and he said yes.

The bright red flare returned to Namine's face. "I can't do that!" She shrieked, causing some girls across the locker room to glance in our direction. She lowered her voice to almost a whisper. "He might say no, and then it would ruin our friendship."

"Then at least ask him to go to a movie with you or something. Ask him to go get a smoothie on Friday night." I joined Kairi at the mirror. Namine sighed, resting her head back on her locker, watching a fly buzz around the water fountain across from her.

"Just suggest that you two ditch the rest of us for a smoothie and that you can come back after you get some. I'm sure all of us will be hanging again." Kairi finished with her hair and wandered over to the bench, picking up her cell phone to read a text message.

"Well….I'm not sure…I mean I don't think it's a good time. He has been acting kind of lost this week. Like he's not all here." I glanced at the clock. We still had some time to talk.

"Yea, so has Axel. He has been pretty quiet, which is unusual for him. Come to think of it, all of them have been acting like that." I went over in my head all the stuff Axel had said since when I talked to him on Monday morning, two days ago. We had talked about normal stuff, but he seemed detached. It was probably them all just stressing over homework. I mean what else in hell could it be?

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**Kairi-**

The subject of what was wrong with the boys was quickly broken when Namine turned to me and plain out asked, "So Kairi, who do you like?" She smiled broadly at me, Larxene turning to smile at me too.

I inched back a ways from them. "Who says I like someone? Must a girl have a crush on a stupid boy every single minute of her life?" I pretended that I was really interested in my hair.

"You have to like someone, just a tiny little bit." Larxene persisted. I could feel their eyes on my back. Sighing I turned to them. I sank slowly back onto the bench and looked at their annoying smiles of persistence.

"You can't tell anyone though, ok?" I whispered, as some other girls on the squad passed us, giggling amongst themselves as they walked into the gym.

"Cross our hearts." Namine said in a little girl voice, swishing an imaginary X in front of her chest.

"Ok well it's…" I hesitated. "It's um..It's…" Ok here we go. I hadn't told anyone who I liked, ever. They were my best friends, but it was still a big secret. But I knew who they both liked, even if Larxene's was obvious.

"Girls! Hurry up your late for practice!" Our coach's voice cut through the locker room, making the remaining girls quickly finish getting ready and jogging out to the gym.

"I'll tell you some other time." I said, standing up and heading out.

"Aw come on Kai! I know you like someone!" Namine called, her and Larxene following me quickly into the gym.

"I'll tell you later." I said, hoping they would forget. I had only known him since he moved here, and that really wasn't that long ago. But he really is sweet and funny, and I guess I kind of suddenly found myself falling for Marluxia.

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**Review if it so does please you **

**Next Chapter: Visting Day. suspense music**


	9. Visiting Day

**Ta-da chapter 9! Since it was such a long wait I tried to make it a long chapter. I've been so swamped with end of the school year homework and tests and blah blah blah. As soon as school is out I'm going to be traveling alot, so I'll try to update every time I'm home. **

**I'm sorry if some of their background stories are kind of drastic and out there. Like Axel's especially. BLEH its kinda random and weird. And Zexion's is kind of out there too. I apologize for the randomness of them!**

**Disclaimer: See Chapter 1**

**P.S. I forgot what I named the cat...if I ever did name it...oops**

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**Chapter 9**

_Visiting Day_

**Marluxia-**

I stared at the ceiling, trying to figure out Demyx's love for the color blue. Each wall in his room was a different shade, and his ceiling was the brightest of them, the exact blue the sky was outside. The sun had just begun to set on the outside world. The wind was dead, and even in the fading sunlight, the temperature held a solid 70. Small children were laughing as I listened to them race down the street in various miniature cars. A dog barked while a couple of birds chirped in happiness. It was the perfect evening.

And yet everyone in the solid blue room was in a silent panic. All that is, except Zexion. He was calmly lying next to me on the bed, drawing. Axel was spinning around slowly in the desk chair, his eyes downcast. Roxas and Sora were staring into Demyx's salt water fish tank, watching the colorful little fish swim around each other in circles. Demyx was sitting on the edge of the bed near my feet, attempting to play his acoustic guitar, but he kept messing up.

I had been thinking about my mom and my sister all day. School had been excruciatingly long. I couldn't concentrate on anything or anyone. They were supposed to be here any minute now, along with everyone else's parents, except for Zexion's. Zexion didn't have anyone coming, except his social worker. I kept wanting to ask him why, but decided to leave it alone.

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**Axel-**

I wasn't exactly sure if I wanted to see my "mother". Last time I had seen her, well was that night. She had sent me a few letters, but she never mentioned what she had done or Damien. I wonder if she still talks to him, her so called "angel" who follows her around and tells her who and what is a sin and what to do about it. My mother was diagnosed with bipolar disease a couple of years back, but wasn't counted as schizophrenic till after that night last summer.

I wasn't even expecting her to come, but she had pleaded with the people at the mental hospital, and it had finally been arranged that she could come if some assistants came along with her.

But I was still falling apart inside. I was pretty sure she wasn't the same woman she was when I was little. As far as I knew, she was still out of her mind and still hell bent on getting rid of me. Nervously I pulled at the hem of my shirt. I had been careful in choosing the colors I was wearing, so "Damien" couldn't tell her I was evil.

There was a soft knock at the door and Mom came in, a soft smile plastered on her face. "Come on boys, your families are here now. Zexion, Mrs. Harker is going to come up here to talk to you, ok Sugar?" Zexion nodded absent mindedly as the rest of us hastily got up and preceded down stairs.

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**Marluxia-**

"MARLUXIA!!!!" Lizzie bounded up from her spot on the couch and raced to me, wrapping her arms tightly around my waist. "It feels like FOREVER since I last saw you! I like this living room. It's big and so totally different than ours. I like this house period. Its way way way different than my new house. The house I'm in is all coordinated by color and every thing in every room matches exactly and I like it and all but it's not as totally as cool as this house and we even have a dog!!! We might get a cocker spaniel puppy soon…" Lizzie pulled me toward the couch where my mom was, only pausing in her chatter long enough for a short breath. My mother stood up when we got closer, smiling broadly at me. Lizzie broke away from me and ran over to the cat, who was lying in the middle of the floor playing with a mouse toy. My mother wrapped her arms around me in a gentle hug, rubbing her nose against my hair. Instantly I returned the hug, laying my head down on her shoulder. I really had missed her. She looked better than when I had last seen her. She was wearing a soft pink long sleeved shirt and a floor length denim skirt.

She pulled back to smile at me. "I missed you Marly."

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**Sora-**

It was weird seeing my parents. They really didn't seem like they had changed at all. My mother's hair was still long and flat, maybe a couple of inches longer. She still wore it back in a low pony tail, and still sat with a lazy slump in her back. She was wearing a church-like dress, one I don't remember at all. My father sat across from her, in a business like suit as always, sitting up straight. He looked like he had gained weight. He kept looking at his watch, exactly as I remember, like he didn't have time for this. Or us.

My mother had risen and hugged us both to her at the same time, but it was brief. Our father rose from the kitchen table chair and looked for a minute as if he was going to actually be fatherly. He took a step closer to us, and then another. Roxas and I exchanged glances of curiosity. I turned my eyes back to my father. He smiled his business smile and held out his hand to Roxas. In return my brother stared at it, before placing his own hand in his and shaking it. He quickly sat down next to our mother, who smiled and reached out to pet his hair. My father held his hand out to me, and reluctantly I shook it too, and sat down next to Roxas.

I took the chance to examine my mother more closely. She seemed even skinnier than I remember, and her skin looked shrunken. Meth and alcohol certainly hadn't done her good. She kept smiling at us as if seeing us was the happiest thing in the world. And maybe to her it was. But it certainly wasn't to the other one who provided half of my DNA. He kept looking at his watch.

"I'm doing so much better now. The doctors and other people in rehab have been so helpful to me and I really think I can get over all this and move on and start my life over. I think I might go to college to get a degree and a good career. Do you know what all this means?" My mother said, looking at us with hopeful eyes. I glanced at my brother out of the corner of my eye, to see his reaction, but he was keeping his face and emotions solid.

"It means you might be able to come home soon!" My mother exclaimed, happily clapping her hands together.

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**Demyx-**

"So Demyx…..how have you been?" Her voice was monotone, and she kept looking away, her voice and eyes hard and distant.

"…Fine." The awkward silence fell over us again. I still couldn't understand why she was being so hard to me. I hadn't really done anything; my stepfather had done all that to himself. My social worker had assigned me a counselor, who both figured it was best for me to leave my house. My stepfather hit me all the time and told me I was useless. I really didn't think much of it until my gym teacher at my old school had noticed my black eye and had called the police. My stepfather was now in going through court trials and butting heads with unconvinced judges. I thought my mother would have divorced him on the spot. But she didn't. She's still married to him, and thinks he's the greatest thing to graze God's green earth.

We had been sitting here for ten minutes now, only exchanging sentences here and there. She kept glancing at me, but then looking away.

"Have you been keeping up in your schoolwork?" She sounded like a disgruntled old teacher than the woman who had given me birth.

I averted my eyes away from her and pretended to be interested in the carpet. "Yea. I have all A's and two B's." For some stupid reason I thought she would be proud of me. I used to never get grades like that back home. But of course back then, I had bigger things that troubled me, like the 250 pound man who was plastered by the time I got home from school almost everyday.

Instead her mouth became a thin stern line. "Well you better work to get those two B's up and turn them into A's. Most colleges see B's as not even living up to all your potential."

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**Zexion-**

"So Zexion, how's life been here in the Avery home?" We were still in Demyx's room. Mrs. Harker was sitting on the desk chair, while I continued to draw lying across the bed.

"Better than that place that I used to think was home." I replied without looking up. "I have a family here." Mrs. Harker sighed, but I couldn't tell if it was in relief or sadness.

"Do you want to talk about back home?" She asked as she moved to sit next to me on the bed.

"Sure. That man was a bastard and life was hell and all I did everyday was try to get away from him and lock myself in the bathroom and plan my suicidal escape from hell." I kept my voice calm and my face as blank as possible. I really didn't feel like reliving all that had happened when I lived with my "father." The man was a beast. None of it would have happened if my mom had been there, but no one had any clue to where she was. My father was sexually abusive. Every since the day of my 13th birthday, he would never leave me alone. I was lucky if I got one night of peace a week. I really didn't know what to do about it, because I didn't think anyone would believe me. Turned out my ever snoopy old neighbors did something for me. One night when my dad started pushing me down the hallway towards his bedroom, I snapped. My fist flew out and before I knew what I was doing my fist had collided solidly with his jaw. He stumbled backwards, giving me enough time to sprint passed him. He chased after me, throwing books and picture frames and a recliner chair, making a hell of a lot of noise. He had cornered me in the kitchen when there was a loud knock on the door. My father looked surprised and turned away from me, distracted. I took the opportunity and sprinted past him, picking up Snicker Doodle and wrenching open the front door and fled out into the night air, passed the two police officers on my porch, and my neighbors standing right behind them.

"Are you sure?" Mrs. Harker asked.

I nodded. "Yup. Because this is my home now. That never really was."

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**Axel-**

I couldn't stop staring at her. She looked like my mother, but she wasn't acting like the person I had last seen. She kept smiling at me, her hair soft and layered down to her shoulders. She had died it blonde since I last remembered. It used to be red, like mine. But then again Damien had told her it was the color of sin and anything that carried that color had to be destroyed.

"Oh Axel dear, you've grown since I've last seen you." She reached across the dining room table to take my hand. I knew that Roxas and Sora and their parents were just a room away and three able bodied people from the mental hospital were sitting right on the other side of the table, but this woman was still making me uneasy. I couldn't shake the last image I had of her, being pulled to a police car, screaming at me that her and Damien would have their revenge and would get me someday.

I still remember when she started talking to Damien. I was 14. She just piped up out of nowhere one night at dinner, having a full blown conversation with him. She had already been diagnosed with bipolar disease by then, so I really didn't think much of it. But the more time went on, the more she talked to him and the more bizarre it got. I came home one night to find she hadn't made dinner. She informed me that Damien said it was a sin to eat anything but salad, and we didn't have any. At least twice or three times a week she would do this, but I figured, more like hoping, that she would snap out of it one day.

One Saturday night I decided to stay home, considering she was acting even more unusual than normal and I was afraid she would do something like burn the house down if I wasn't there. It was getting late and was about midnight when she emerged from the kitchen, holding a machete.

"Damien says your hair is the color of sin. You're a sinner. Sinners are not allowed here. Sinners must go. And Damien says that Sinners can only go by dying." With that she proceeded to lung at me. I rolled out of the chair, standing up and putting my hands up. "Mom," I said, holding out my hands. "Snap out of it! You're going crazy!" She just laughed. It sounded weird and demonic, the very opposite of her usual fluttery laugh.

"No. You go. Don't you want to make Damien and Mommy happy?" She lunged at me again, but had bad aim and balance. The machete imbedded into the couch, while I made my escape out the front door and ran to my neighbor's house, who called the police. By the time they got there my mother was standing in my neighbor's front yard, screeching and tearing at her hair.

"Axel baby are you alright?" Her voice brought me back to reality. I smiled encouragingly at her. "Yea….I'm fine."

She leaned back in her chair as though satisfied. "Good. I wouldn't want anything bad to happen to you."

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**Roxas-**

"I've got to go." Our dad stood, shoving back his chair and picking up a briefcase I hadn't noticed before.

"So soon?" I asked. His eyes shot to mine. "I have business to do son. I need to catch my flight to Japan in a few hours." He turned to my mother. "Come on Charlene, if you want a ride back to the center you need to leave now too."

She pouted. "Just 5 more minutes?" He returned her puppy dog eyes with a stern look. "I'm on a very tight schedule. Say your goodbyes." He walked over and held his hand out to me, and then Sora. "Nice seeing you two again."

And that was it from him. Our mother gave us each a big hug and a kiss on the forehead. "I'll come back as soon as possible I promise!" She yelled as they left the kitchen. "And I'll write to you in a couple of days or so!" With that they left through the kitchen door. After a few seconds I heard the front door squeak open and close.

Mom, the Mom who actually took care of us and didn't drink and wasn't on meth had been standing in the background the whole time with her back to us. As soon as the front door closed she came and sat next to us, placing a cup of hot cocoa in front of each of us. She hugged us each and sat down with us. Her hugs were so much different than our biological moms. Hers were small and careful, like she was afraid she would break. This mother's hugs were big and filled with warmth and love.

She smiled and at us. "I love you two." She said, reaching over and ruffling Sora's hair. The oven dinged. She stood hurriedly. "I made you muffins!" She called over her shoulder.

She really was a good mom.

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**Demyx-**

"It's all your fault we are all going through this you know." Her voice was harsh. My head shot up to stare at her.

"What's all my fault? I didn't do anything! I…" She cut me off. "No Demyx don't give me that again. If you hadn't gone and told some lies about how you were being abused none of this would have happened. I can barely support myself and your stepfather. It's a blessing Cecil and Morgan have gone off to college and are paying their own tuition, or Dan and I would be out of money by now." Cecil and Morgan were my two older stepsisters. I stared at her in disbelief, my jaw dropping. Why was she accusing me?

"Whatever it takes though, Dan and I will get through this together. He loved you Demyx, and you screwed him over because you couldn't take a punch or two." She stood up sharply, shoving away from the couch and heading to the door. She turned to look at me. "Don't fall behind in school." With that she slammed the door behind her.

Quickly I got up to leave the living room. As I passed, Marluxia's eyes caught mine. His dark eyes were filled with worry and questions. I smiled at him and entered the kitchen, knowing Roxas and Sora's parents had already left. As soon as I sat down next to them, Mom had placed a fresh muffin and a mug of hot cocoa in front of me, planting a kiss on my head.

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**Axel-**

"It was so funny one night during dinner and the man who lives across the hall from me picked up his spoon and…." She stopped suddenly in mid-sentence and smiled at me. I raised and eyebrow, but she didn't move.

"Continue your story?" I inquired. Her smile immediately disappeared. "That would be rude! Damien is talking to you. Don't you hear him?" She glanced to the empty chair to her left.

A chill ran through my body, making my breathing freeze. "Wh…Who?" Her smiled instantly returned, though she looked utterly confused. "Damien, love. I know you remember him. He's our sweet angel who helped us through everything. He stills helps me too. He's saying hello to you, and he wants to know how you've been." Her smile was starting to become creepy. I scooted my chair back. "I think our time is up."

Her face became cloudy. "But Damien and I need to speak with you." She stood up also. The people from the mental hospital started to move in between us. With a demonic screech she attempted to tear in between them and at me.

"Sin! Sin! SINSINSINSINSINSINSINSINSINSIN!!!!" She started screaming violently, its immense noise vibrating off the dining room walls. Her hands clawed at me in the air as the workers started to move her towards the door.

But as soon as she had started her rage, she halted. Her face dropped to her hands as her shoulders began to shake with sobs. The workers led her out of the dining room and through the kitchen and the living room, and finally out the door. She went easily, sobbing loudly the entire way. When the front door closed I entered the kitchen, my hands shaking. Instantly Mom, the women who acted like a true mother, was there, folding me in a tight hug. She led me to the kitchen table, giving me a muffin and hot chocolate. Demyx and the twins where there too, watching me. By the looks on their faces I could tell they hadn't had very good visits either.

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**Marluxia-**

My mother was talking in detail about this garden that a group of people in her rehab home had visited when the twin's parents came through the kitchen door and hurriedly left. My mother watched them go before continuing her story. Only mere moment after the first set of parents had left, Demyx's mother's voice began to rise from behind me on the opposite side of the room. She left in a flurry, slamming the door behind her.

After ten minutes she was able to finish her story. She sat in silence for a while, smiling at me.

"Marly, I don't think I'll be out of rehab for a long time. I've relapsed, even though I'm still there and have snuck out to find drugs more than once. It's so hard not to do it." At the moment loud screaming filled the house and not two minutes later the kitchen door opened, and three burly men led a sobbing woman out of the house. It had to be Axel's mother. My mother watched them go, then looked back at me with fear in her eyes.

"I don't want to end up like that." She whispered, pointing at Axel's mother as they stepped onto the porch. As soon as a car outside started, she stood up.

"Well I guess that's my queue to leave too." She hugged me close to her, Lizzie mimicking her. Then they left, leaving me alone in the living room. Zexion came down from the stairs. I hadn't noticed him before, but he must have been sitting there all along. He came to sit by me on the couch.

"Come on. I think I smell muffins." He headed for the kitchen, leaving me no option but to follow him.

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**Zexion-**

Mrs. Harker had left a long time ago, before Roxas and Sora's parents even had. I had crept down silently to the top of the stairs and listened and watched. I watched the twin's parents leave, then Demyx's, Axel's deranged mother, and finally Marluxia's mother and sister. It was weird, I learned a lot about Marluxia's and Demyx's pasts while I was sitting there. As far as I was concerned, Demyx's biological mother was a flat out bitch. But she didn't matter anymore, just like my father didn't matter anymore.

Later we were all sitting around the kitchen table eating muffins and drinking hot chocolate, while Mom tried to cheer everyone up, and she was doing a pretty good job at it. She even got Axel to smile. After what seemed like days she said it was midnight and that we all needed to go to bed. She gave us each a hug and a kiss on the head and sent us upstairs while she picked up mugs to load in the dishwasher.

That's all everyone needed was sleep. Everything would be normal in the morning.

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**Review if does so please you to do so**

**Next Chapter: Pink Frosting**

**P.S. If you have any idea of something I should put in my story, please write me a message and tell me! I'm starting to run low on ideas!**


	10. Pink Frosting

**Hooray celebration for 10 chapters! dance ...anyway...**

**I'm sorry this chapter took so long. May is the absolute worst month of school, as my teachers are all cramming as much as they can. But its almost over!!!! YAY!!!! And then vacations start and I'll be gone a lot...but I'll update as much as possible. I've also got the most random idea for the very last chapter in this story! It hit me randomly a couple days ago. I have no idea when the final chapter will be, but not for awhile. I still have alot of things I need to do. **

**I'm also still asking for chapter ideas. I've gotten one, but its a lovely one :-)**

**I'd like to thank my Betty Crocker box of cake mix with helping me write this chapter. Its not my favorite chapter and forgive me if its seems kinda jumpy and rushed. I was in a hurry. **

**I also realized that I used the word "hell" a hell of a lot of times in this chapter. Why I don't know. But I did. Enjoy anyway**

**Disclaimer: See Chapter 1**

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**Chapter 10**

_Pink Frosting_

**Roxas-**

"Boys, I'm going to run some errands and go visit some friends. Any one need anything?" Everyone answered Mom with mumbles of "no" and "not that I can think of." But why would Mom be going to her errands tonight? She never went shopping at night, especially on a Friday. I couldn't dwell long on it though. I was racing my brother on the playstation, and he was beating me on the final lap. He had beaten me in the last two races and I couldn't let him beat me a third time.

Mom kissed us each good-bye and left without another word. The room fell silent for the sounds coming from the t.v.

"YES!!!! IN YOUR FACE!!!" Sora jumped up, happy dancing and laughing at me. I glared at him and grabbed his ankle, playfully knocking him back to the floor. Within minutes we were wrestling, rolling across the living room floor. I had finally pinned him on his back when Axel suddenly sat up, his eyes shining.

"Let's make Mom a cake." He jumped off the couch, pacing across the living room excitedly.

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**Axel-**

"A cake?" Zexion looked up from his Sodoku, raising an eyebrow. I stopped to stare back at him.

"Yes. A cake. It's what you make people on special occasions for other people." By now everyone else was staring at me too.

"What for? Her birthday isn't for another like five months." Demyx said, setting his guitar down on the couch.

"Well for….for……oh I don't know just because we should!" A gazed around at each of them in turn. "She makes us muffins all the time, so why don't we make her a cake!" It seemed like a logical idea to me. And whenever she went out to run errands, she was always gone for awhile. Long enough that we could make a cake.

"Come on." I pushed through the kitchen door, the rest of them following behind me.

Luckily we had cake mix and eggs and butter. But we were missing something…"Frosting! We don't have any frosting!" I said, setting down the cake mix and other things on the counter. I quickly glanced across everyone, setting my eyes on Marluxia and Demyx.

"Go to the store and get frosting. And some of that frosting that you can write with too." They left and I turned to everyone else.

"Come on guys. It can't be that hard."

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**Marluxia-**

"Where the hell is frosting in this place?" I had only been in this store two or three times, so I hadn't memorized where everything was. It was rapidly growing late outside, so the store was nearly empty as we made our way through the store, glancing down each aisle.

"I have no idea. I haven't really been in here much either." Demyx hadn't lived in the house much longer than I had. Finally after we had almost gone through the entire store we found it. There was pretty much an entire frosting aisle. Demyx and I stood stupidly in front of all the containers.

"What color and flavor are we supposed to get?" I shook my head silently. They seemed to have every color in every flavor imaginable.

Demyx shrugged. Another couple of minutes went by as an elderly couple passed us, giving as an odd look as we stood stationary in the same spot.

"Hell."

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**Zexion-**

"Ok so just mix all of that together I guess." Sora pulled the mixer out from the cabinet underneath the center island, handing it back to Axel. Roxas was cracking open eggs into the bowl of cake mix, butter, and water. I was sitting at the kitchen table, watching them silently. They had no idea what they were doing.

"How does this turn on? Like this?" Axel shoved the plug in the socket and pushed a button. The beaters fell off with a soft pop, landing noisily on the counter top. They reattached the beaters and Axel pushed another button. This one turned it on, the familiar sound of the whirring beaters filling the kitchen.

Cautiously Axel placed the beaters down in the batter, causing flecks of it to fly all over the place.

I can't watch this anymore. Someone is going to end up in the emergency room. Sighing softly I got up from the table, taking the mixer from Axel and getting a wooden spoon out of the drawer.

"Watch." I said, turning the mixer down and swirling the batter around, starting at the middle and moving out, using the spoon to scrape the batter that splattered across the sides of the bowl back into the middle again. Once it was all mixed together I stopped the mixer and pulled it slowly out of the bowl, placing it in the sink. I stirred the batter around a few more times and handed the spoon to Axel. Calmly I started to make my way back to the table, but I could feel everyone's heavy stares on my back. I turned to face the other three, who were all staring at me in mild disbelief.

"What?" I raised an eyebrow, sweeping my eyes across their astonished faces.

"You know how to cook?"

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**Demyx-**

"Let's just get pink. I'm pretty sure she likes that color anyway." Marluxia nodded in agreement. "Yea, and we can get white frosting in a tube to write whatever the hell Axel wants to write on it." As Marluxia reached up to get the pink frosting, I gazed around past him.

"Uh-oh." Coming down the far end of the aisle was Mom. Of all people to be here at the same time in the same aisle, it had to be Mom.

"What?" Marluxia had retrieved the frosting and was looking at me. Wordlessly I pointed behind him. He spun around to face Mom's direction. Luckily she hadn't seen us, and was examining something on the shelf. Quickly we fled from the aisle, making our way to the self check out just as Mom stepped away from what she was looking at and came down the aisle towards us.

"Hopefully she didn't see us." I gazed around as Mar fought with the self check-out, which was being horrifically slow.

"Get down!" Mom had come around the corner and was walking in our direction. Not knowing what else to do I reach behind me and grabbed Marluxia's sleeve, pulling him down with me behind a candy display. Mom passed next to us, humming softly to herself. She came within 3 feet of us, but never sensed our presence as her shadow passed over us. As soon as she turned the corner Marluxia shot up, quickly finishing paying and pulling me towards the front door and out to the car.

'This is the last time we are the ones sent on a random errand." Marluxia mumbled as we hurried across the chilly parking lot as it started to rain softly.

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**Sora-**

"I think it's done now." We all stared down at the goop that was sitting in a cake pan. Zexion had ended up doing most of the work since he was secretly this master chef that no one knew about. Slowly I picked the pan up as Axel opened the oven door. As carefully as I could I slid the pan onto the top rack, setting it down softly so it would splatter out of the pan.

Closing the oven door the four of us sat down in front of it in relief.

"30 minutes and it will be done." Roxas said, leaning against my back.

"See? I told you it would be easy. Especially since we have Iron Chef over here." Axel laughed and elbowed Zexion in the side.

"Yea, since when did you know how to cook?" I asked. Zexion looked steadily at the oven door. "Since I took cooking back in my old high school." He replied, turning his head to look at me.

"I wish you would have told me that before I had to make dinner that one night." Moaned Axel, but it obvious that he was joking. He turned to Zexion and stuck out his lower lip, pretending to pout.

Zexion smirked and elbowed Axel back. We all gazed into the oven door at the slowly rising cake.

"Where the hell are Dem and Mar?" Roxas asked

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**Marluxia-**

"Come on people move! Its rain not ice!" The rain was pouring steadily now as crawled down the street. All the other cars were going about 10 miles per hour, and I knew if we didn't hurry Mom would end up catching up to us and maybe even get home before us.

The car in front of us hit its brakes again for the third time in the past minute. By now even Demyx was getting agitated too. He kept gripping onto the door handle every time we were forced to slow down. The windshield wipers streaked quickly across the windshield as the rain continued to pound down on the heavy traffic.

At the next stop light I turned onto a neighborhood street, flooring it up a hill.

"We're going to beat her home."

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**Roxas-**

"I think it's done." I pulled the pan out of the oven, setting it on top of the stove. Axel stuck a tooth pick in the middle of it. It came out clean. We waited a few minutes as Zexion instructed before flipping the cake onto a platter.

The cake was almost fully cooled when Mar and Dem finally got back, dripping wet. Sora and I started to frost the angel cake with bright pink frosting as quickly and as neatly as we could. Mom was due home any minute now. Once it was completely covered we looked at one another.

"So who's going to write on it? I'm not." I said, placing the white tube of frosting on the counter. Everyone turned to look at Zexion.

"What now?" Zexion sighed, rubbing his eyes. He was tired. We all were. No one had really slept well since Wednesday.

Axel put on his best smile. "Well since your mister cook and have the best handwriting…." Zexion snatched the tube up. "Oh fine what do you want it to say?" Everyone exchanged glances.

"How about…..To Mom: We Love You." Demyx said, shrugging. "I don't know what else to put on there." Everyone agreed on his idea as Zexion quickly started writing the message.

He had just finished the last word as the front door opened.

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**Axel-**

"Well what's all this?" Mom said as she entered the kitchen, carrying various bags of groceries. Sora dragged her over the counter where the cake was, its frosting only slightly running because the cake hadn't fully cooled yet.

Mom smiled, silently beckoning us all to her. She hugged us to her, planting her usual kiss on top of each of our heads.

"Thank you boys. It's lovely."

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**Review if is does so please you to do so. **

**Chapter Suggestions are always welcome.**

**If I get enough reviews I'll try to update one more chapter before I leave for Florida on the 31st. Woo!!!**

**P.S. If your ever wondering where the hell I am, I update on my profile of my doings and such. :-)**


	11. Fine Arts Night

**Sorry for the lateness and shortness of this chapter. I've been so full with the end of school and getting ready to leave on vacation I've had no time to write. I meant to get two chapters up before I left, but sadly it won't happen. :-( I'll be back around the June 10th I think.**

**The song Demyx performs is Your Guardian Angel by Red Jumpsuit Apparatus**

**Dedication: This chapter is dedicated to forgottenmelodies because she thought up the main idea of this chapter and has given me several other ideas too, which I plan to use. She makes my heart happy :-)**

**Disclaimer: See Chapter 1**

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**Chapter 11**

_Fine Arts Night_

**Zexion-**

"I can't do this." Demyx whined again for what had to have been the twentieth time in the past five minutes. He jumped off the chair he was sitting in the band room, setting his guitar down on the floor. He picked up his duffel bag and darted quickly for the door. I reached out as he passed me, latching onto his arm with both of mine. He huffed at me but stayed put.

"Come on Dem! They wouldn't have picked you to perform that song at Fine Arts Night if the didn't think you were amazing. You've played this song a million times before. My room is next to yours and I know of all your midnight rehearsals." I forced him to sit back down. I couldn't figure out what was wrong. He loved playing his guitar, and he loved to sing too. And he was good. I knew there was going to be people here scouting out people who were worthy of their scholarships. All Demyx had to do was go out there and sing and play his guitar, and by the time the night was over he would be surrounded by people.

"But it's just that….its just that…well Namine is going to be out there! What if I mess up and start playing the wrong song or trip or something?" Demyx had a crush on Namine? Since when did this happen? He always seemed to get quieter around her, but Demyx was kind of shy anyway.

"Since when did you like Namine?!" I sat down in the seat next to him, picking up his guitar and shoving it towards him.

"Since….a while I guess. Since a little before Marluxia moved in." He shifted his gaze away from me, running his thumb over the guitar's strings softly.

"Well….you don't have to worry about that, because you're not going to mess up. Get a hold of yourself!" I punched him lightly on the arm.

He didn't seem to believe me

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**Sora-**

"Speed." I set down my remaining cards and stared at Marluxia, who was watching me calmly.

"How do you do that? Every single time!" We had started playing Speed on Roxas's notebook since we had gotten here. Fine arts night was usually crowded, so we had gotten there early. So far, no one had beaten Marluxia. Roxas had come close once, having only two cards left, but he still lost.

"Hey guys." The voice came from behind me. I turned around in my seat to face who was speaking. Riku. He, Olette, Namine, and Hayner had just gotten here, and Riku had taken the empty seat next to me. Ever since that night in the park I had trouble acting "normal" around Riku.

"Oh he…hey Riku." Damn it and my nervous stuttering. Riku raised his eyebrow at me but didn't say anything.

"When does this thing start anyway?" Hayner said, glancing around the quickly filling auditorium. Larxene, who was sitting on the other side of Axel, opened her cellphone. "In like five minutes."

"So did you get that pre-calculus assignment done?" Riku absent-mindedly played with a lock of his silver hair. I stared at the twirling lock of hair, barely finding my voice.

"Uh yea….I got like…ha…half of it done…" Riku looked at me through the corner of his eyes. I could feel Axel, Marluxia, and Roxas's heated stares on my back. I turned to face forward, praying for the lights to dim.

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**Marluxia-**

"You see that?" Axel whispered, nudging me in the ribs. I shoved his elbow away. "Of course I did. Who wouldn't have?" I whispered back, looking at Sora over my shoulder.

"Do you think Sora is gay? Or maybe even bi?" Axel had this habit if getting right to the point, which wasn't always the best thing.

"How should I know Ax? I've never really seen him with a girlfriend since I moved here, but that doesn't mean anything." The lights started to dim.

"Of course it does! It means Sora is gay, he HAS to be. You don't stammer and get embarrassed like that unless you are madly in love with your best friend!" He hissed causing a few heads to turn back to look at us. Axel broke away and focused on the senior girl who was marching her way carefully to the middle of the stage.

But even without Axel inquiries, I couldn't help but wonder to myself if he really was gay.

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**Demyx-**

_Alright Demyx, you can do this. Just pretend like no one is there but you. You're at home. In your room, sitting at your desk chair, facing the window like always. _I opened my eyes. I was still backstage in the high school auditorium, Zexion's voice in the background. Wait, Zexion was already going? I spun around, and peeked out of the wing curtains, watching Zexion give his monologue. He had done this great monologue for state drama back in December and the drama teacher had picked him for Fine Arts night too. I knew he was going to end up going to some great Theater School. I wanted to go to a college that specialized in musical arts.

I just had to get through this night first.

"You're up after her." Suddenly Zexion was standing beside me. I jumped slightly.

Zexion sighed. "You will do fine Demyx, just forget about all the people and everything else as best you can. It won't be as bad as you think."

God I hoped he was right.

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**Axel-**

So. Sora was gay. Or bi. Whichever. He had to be, the way he stammered when Riku talked to him, how he pulled himself up in his chair higher and how he kept stealing glances at him right now in the dark of the auditorium. Some girl was singing, Zexion had just left the stage and Demyx was next. I wasn't paying attention. I was speculating on whether Sora was gay or not. True it is often said that twins are total opposites in one way or another, and maybe Roxas and Sora's big difference was their sexuality. Well whatever it is, I would find out for sure tonight.

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**Demyx-**

_This is it Demyx. You can do this. _I heard my name called as Zexion pushed me forward onto the stage. I focused on the stool sitting in the middle of the stage and slowly sank down onto it. I finally let my eyes glaze out across the audience. So many people. Swallowing hard I turned my head to look at Zexion backstage. He gave me an encouraging smile and hand signaled to me to start.

Taking a deep breath a ducked my head slightly and played the first chords of the song. _Hey this wasn't that bad , as long as I kept my head down. _I took a slightly shaky breath and started to sing:

_When I see your smile  
Tears run down my face I can't replace  
And now that I'm stronger I've figured out  
How this world turns cold and breaks through my soul  
And I know I'll find deep inside me I can be the one_

_I could do this. I really could. All that worrying for nothing. _Halfway through the song I raised my head slightly, sweeping my eyes over the crowd, stopping on Namine. She was smiling at me.

I smiled back.

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**Roxas-**

"Sora!" Fine Arts night had ended and I had lost my twin in the crush of people in the lobby. Zexion and Demyx were both talking to some important looking people, and I had no idea where Marluxia and Axel had disappeared to.

But I just wanted to talk to Sora.

I finally found him, standing with Kairi. I pulled him away with out explaining, to a hallway leading towards the library. It was empty.

"Sora, what's going on with you and Riku?" Instantly he his eyes shifted to his shoes.

"Nothing. Nothing at all. He's my best friend Rox." He looked up at me through his hair.

"Well you do remember that everyone is coming to our house tonight right?" Sora paled slightly.

"I don't remember that!" He whined, raising his eyes to look at me fully in the face. His eyes, so similar to mine, were laced with nervousness.

"You like Riku…more than a friend don't you?" I tried to keep our gaze held as some giddy older couples walked past the hallway on their way to their cars.

Sora sighed heavily, but didn't answer me. I took a deep breath and asked the question I had wanted to ask for a long time.

"Sora, are you gay?"

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**Review if it does so please you. If I find a computer on vacation I'll check my email and reviews and alerts and all that happy stuff. **

**Next Chapter:**

**Sleepover!!!!!!**


	12. Sleepover part 1

**Hoorah I'm back from Florida. Which is good, but also sad. I want to go back...anyway here is chapter 12! I'm way nervous and stressed for Grand on Wednesday-Saturday so I was stressy when I wrote this, which explains all the arbitrary cussing in the first part. Also if I wasn't stressing I would have put all the sleepover in one mega chapter. But sadly I didn't. There will be one or two more parts to it. Hoorah. Also when I get back on Saturday I want to rewrite and revise chapter 11 and add more to it and more of Demyx and Zexion's performances :-)**

**When I was in the middle of writing this a random idea for another story hit me. Its totally random but I had decided to change my desktop wallpaper to Saix and for some reason he inspired it...wow...but I will write it eventually. I just don't want to right now when I'm crushed for time. **

**Disclaimer: See Chapter 1**

**Dedication: This chapter is dedicated to forgottenmelodies who thought up the idea for it. :-) she's amazing. I'll take any suggestions and ideas you have. I save all the ones I've gotten for later use :-)**

**Enjoy**

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**Chapter 12**

_Sleepover part 1_

**Zexion-**

"Shit Axel you're not driving anymore!" I gripped the dashboard as Axel slammed on the brakes as the car in front of him stopped at a stoplight. By this point I was surprised I wasn't dead. True, Axel has never been the easiest person to ride in a car with. But tonight was the worst of them all. He was driving like it was his first lesson in an abandoned parking lot.

"It's not my fault! It's this bitch in front of me! She can't decide whether to hit the fucking brakes or if she wants to just go the damn speed limit!" Axel yelled back at me, laying down hard on the horn. Both of us had the tendency to lapse into extreme cursing when we were aggravated. Actually everyone in the house did. And usually when one person started up, we all would. But while Axel and I yelled obscenities at each other in the front, Sora was being unusually quiet in the back, and hadn't joined in our screaming match much less even said I word since we had left. Axel and I were too involved with fighting with each other to notice.

"Ah fuck you bitch!" Axel hit the brakes again as the woman in front of us turned a corner without bothering to turn her blinker on until she was actually turning. I hated when people did that. Axel pressed down hard on the gas and sped off past her, flipping her off as we passed. We sat in heavy silence after that, except for the blaring of angry music on the stereo.

I was gazing out the window at brightly lit cheap motel signs when Sora sighed heavily from behind me. Apparently Axel's temper was still as fired up as mine was as he looked in the review mirror at Sora. "What's your problem?" His voice was sharp.

"None of your fucking business Axel just get us home already." It was the first time he had spoken, and he even sounded like he had been in the argument earlier.

"You always keep everything all bottled up. That's no damn good for you, why don't you open up once and awhile?" If this had been any other time it would have sounded like Axel was worried about him. But it sounded like he was taunting him.

"Fuck you." Sora's voice rose an octave louder.

"Hey I'm not doing anything you little bastard!" Axel turned the wheel sharply into the other line to avoid a slow moving semi.

I boiled over again. "Just leave him the fuck alone asshole!"

"I don't need your help, just both of you leave me the hell alone for once!" I could feel the heat of Sora's fury from behind me. Before I could snap back at him Axel pulled off into a neighborhood street and parked.

"What the hell are you doing?" I turned my unexplained rage on him. Axel sighed heavily, putting his head down on the steering wheel.

"I can't drive like this. I'll end up rolling the car or something." His voice was surprisingly calm. Sora and I quieted, the heavy blanket of silence falling over us again.

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**Marluxia-**

"Where are they?" Roxas opened his cell phone to check the time. We had left the auditorium not long before the others did. Even Larxene and Kairi and beaten them here, and they had went to Kairi's house first. It was a good thing Mom had left after Fine Arts night for an overnight trip for this convention thing, or she would have been in frantic tears by now and calling the police. Olette, however, was quickly covering for her.

"Maybe we should call the police or something. They should have been here by now." She looked anxiously out the window at the dark street.

"Don't stress they'll be here in a minute." Riku said, spinning around slowly in the desk chair at the computer. He was trying to sound reassuring, but there was doubt even in his voice. Hayner had even stopped flipping through channels and had turned the t.v. off.

"I'm making cookies…or something…" Namine hopped off the couch and headed for the kitchen, Demyx looking longingly after her. After a minute Yuffie followed, then one girl after another followed her out of the living room till they were all in the kitchen.

Roxas opened his phone again, dialing Sora's number. After less than a minute he snapped his phone shut. "Went straight to voicemail."

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**Sora-**

I watched the little numbers on the dashboard clock change at snail paced speed. Who knew time could go by so slow. 15 minutes had passed since Axel had pulled over. No one had talked or barely moved since. Axel still had his head down on the steering wheel, his arms looped over the top of it. Zexion was glancing steadily out the window. I wanted to, needed to break the silence and say something so we could go home. I couldn't even remember why all of us were being so hostile at each other.

"Why were we fighting anyway?" Zexion suddenly said, voicing my thoughts as if he had been reading my mind. Axel cleared his throat and raised his head. "I really don't know. But whatever it was it was stupid."

"Agreed." I muttered quietly, looking down at my hands. We stayed there for five more minutes before Axel turned the key in the ignition, bringing the car and overly loud stereo back to life. Instantly my stomach jolted again. I wanted to go home, but at the same time I really didn't. Riku was there, and I wasn't sure what he thought anymore. And Roxas was there too. I knew he wasn't mad at me, but still.

We passed another cheap rundown motel, The Sunset Inn. They were painting it. At first all they had done was paint it orange with a red roof. It looked fine like that, better than the crusty blue color. But now they were painting the roof lining bright, ugly green. They had even outlined their huge sign sticking out from the roof in it. It looked disgusting. I could have matched the colors way better than that.

My stomach knotted again. Gay guys were supposed to be good about colors and matching. I didn't even know what to do with my life or myself anymore. I was so confused.

Finally we turned into our neighborhood, passing by the familiar houses and yards. Just when I thought my stomach couldn't knot anymore, it did when we pulled into the driveway.

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**Roxas-**

"Hey they're here!" Demyx cried out, closing the blinds as the light from the headlights filtered through the windows. Car doors slammed and a minute later the three former missing persons were home where they belonged. The girls came out of the kitchen and everyone immediately started asking them questions. Sora slid past everyone and sat down next to me on the floor in front of the loveseat. His eyes were downcast, and he wouldn't look at me for more than a quick glance. I sighed softly. I didn't like seeing Sora like this.

"Listen, if I sounded mad back at the school I'm sorry. I'm not mad. I was just upset you didn't tell me earlier. But I just want you to be happy so don't worry about it." Sora finally looked up at me. Our gazes held for a minute before he smiled softly.

"You mean it?" His voice was quiet, even though I'm sure no one could hear us anyway.

"Why wouldn't I?" I pushed on his shoulder, trying to knock him over. He shoved me right back, starting to act and look like the brother I knew. Soon we were laughing about something utterly stupid that wouldn't have made sense to anyone else.

"Well now that that mystery is solved, what should we do now?" Riku said, moving to sit next to Sora and I. Immediately I felt Sora tense slightly at my side, but he held his composure. No one could agree on anything, so eventually everyone fell into doing their own thing since the girls' cookies were done yet and they didn't want to start doing something and forget about them. I was playing poker with Larxene, Marluxia, Hayner, and Yuffie in the middle of the living room floor. We had been playing for awhile when I realized I hadn't seen Sora in awhile. I looked around the living room for him, but he seemed to have disappeared.

So had Riku.

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**Demyx-**

Namine giggled as I drew a rainbow behind the unicorn she had dared me to draw. We were lying on the huge couch, our feet on opposite ends, our heads meeting together on the middle cushion with the piece of paper in between us. When we had first sat down on the couch I felt there was a million little things that might be wrong with me. Like was my hair sticking up weird, were my hands gross looking, did I have something stuck in my teeth, was my fly down? But she didn't say anything negative and didn't look disgusted.

"That's good, I wish I could draw like that." She giggled again. She had the cutest and more unique laugh I had ever heard, and I loved the way she scrunched her nose up when she was laughing and how she halfway covered her mouth with her hand as if she felt her giggling was rude.

"I bet you can." I pulled I fresh sheet out and placed it on top of my drawing and handed her my pencil. She scrunched her nose playfully at me, pretending to be mad, but she took the pencil anyway and drew a large circle right in the middle. Then she drew a line coming straight down and four smaller ones branching off of it. Two on the bottom and two near the top. A stick figure. She giggled her adorable giggle again and added a mullet to the stick figure's head. She drew a guitar at it's feet.

"There. Its you!" She smiled brightly at me before picking up the pencil again to add more to it. Again she drew another stick figure, this time giving it longer hair and drew cupcakes near its feet. She loved baking, especially cupcakes. She returned focus to the stick figure Demyx and erased one of his arms, redrawing it so it stuck straight out and the Namine stick figure, as if it was pointing at her. She added a whole bunch of flowers scattered across the bottom around the guitar and cupcakes, before she added a single flower at the end of Stick Demyx's outstretched arm.

I couldn't help but smile, even though my heart was hammering in my chest. She laid down the pencil and looked up at me, smiling her perfect smile. I wondered if she knew how much I liked her or if she had just drawn the picture for the hell of it. I could feel my mind closing up again, turning back to being shy around her.

"I told you I couldn't draw very well." She gazed down on her drawing.

I swallowed hard and took a deep breath before I replied.

"I think its perfect."

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**Review if it does so please you!**

**Next Chapter: Sleepover part 2. OOOOOOHHHHH bet you didn't see that coming**


	13. Sleepover Take Two

**So I've actually been home for a few days but I've been being really lazy and then I got fascinated by downloading houses and such for the Sims 2...yea...So when I finally sit down to write this I realize that I really really REALLY need to go to the store and buy shampoo and rice krispie cereal and marshmellows because I really want to make rice krispie treats before I'm supposed to go to my friend's house...thus the reason for the shortness and the hurriedness, especially near the end. If I get time I'll rewrite this chapter, after I write the next one and upate chapter...11 I think it is. I've also been writing down my other story in my notebook...because I'm weird...oh well. :-)**

**Oh and the idea of the paint swiping on the ceiling comes from my very own room! If it confuses too many people I'll take a picture of that too and put it on my profile because I didn't know how to explain it. **

**Once again dedicated to forgottenmelodies for coming up with the idea of the sleep over. YAY!!!!!**

**Disclaimer: See chapter one**

**Additional Notes: I forgot to thank the Sunset Motel in my last chapter for being in my story for picking a really bad clash of colors and a very ugly green to paint their motel. I never would have thought of something like that without them. I'll take a picture of it sometime and put it on my profile...just wait...its hideous...**

**Enjoy**

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**Chapter Thirteen**

_Sleepover take two_

**Zexion-**

_I don't get it. How can you possibly take down three police cars AND a helicopter single handedly with a singly hand gun? And if that's on a highway how come there aren't any other cars on it? _

I wasn't one to watch movies that had things that were totally unrealistic when the movie itself is supposed to be realistic. It doesn't bug me if its sci-fi or fantasy or even a normal girl comes out of the closet to haunt you horror movies. But this one simply didn't make sense. We were watching The Hitcher and I was spending most of the time analyzing everything in my head. Like the fact he had a hand gun for most of it and then out of no where he has this huge shotgun, and then he is back to his small one again. Wouldn't you keep the big one if you really wanted to kill someone? It would be a lot easier to shoot people with.

Yuffie shrieked next to me as the killer brought down the helicopter in three shots. My mind started to wander again.

_Where the hell is Sora? And Riku for that matter? I haven't seen either of them since we started this movie. _

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**Sora-**

"You really should paint it in here." Riku said, surveying my room. We had come up to my room so I could get a CD I had borrowed from him so I could burn it and we simply hadn't gone back downstairs. Riku spun in a slow circle, motioning his hands at my plain creamy white colored walls. When I moved in I simply hadn't seen a reason to paint it, mainly because I didn't know what color to paint it. I guess I could have painted it any color, considering the carpet was white. Everyone else had painted their rooms, even Marluxia had and Axel had even taken the time to paint flames where the walls met the ceiling and the floor in his room.

"You should paint it like red or something." Riku flopped down on my bed, looking up at my ceiling, as he continued. "You know how Marluxia did that swipe thing with the paint brush on his ceiling in his room? You should do something like that." I remembered that. When Marluxia painted his room he would take a paintbrush and create kind of faded streaks of color coming off the corner where the wall ran into the ceiling.

"You really think so?" Riku nodded, sitting up to look at me. My heart started hammering against my ribcage so hard I swore Riku must have been able to hear it.

An empty silence fell over us. I pretended to be interested in flipping through a notebook that had been sitting on my desk, when I was really trying to think of something to say.

"You've been really quiet lately." Riku's voice was monotone and calm.

"I have? Never noticed." I tried to make my voice as cool and calm as his was, but it came out jittery and kind of high pitched. I winced and mentally slapped myself.

"What's on your mind? You can tell me, you know that." I looked up from the notebook. Riku was staring right at me, making my heart flutter faster than what I thought possible. I took a couple of deep breaths. This was it. It was now or never and I knew if I never told him I would never get the chance.

"Well…"

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**Axel-**

"Would that really happen if you were tied to a truck like that?" Namine whispered as the guy in the movie tore neatly in two.

"Yea, just probably wouldn't be that clean of a rip though." I loved the way that Hayner could say something like that and make it sound as if he was telling you how to make a razzleberry pie.

Beside me, Larxene giggled softly to herself. Unlike the other girls things like this didn't gross or weird her out. I had corrupted her mind and turned her into a horror movie junkie. Namine made a face of disgust and Olette muttered a soft "Sick." under her breath. I rolled over and picked up my cell phone to check the time. Almost eleven. I glanced up at everyone else to see if anyone had noticed Sora and Riku hadn't been seen in over an hour. Zexion gave me a look that said, _any idea where they are? _and Marluxia kept glancing up at the staircase.

But besides that no one else seemed to notice their disappearing act. Best to leave them alone anyway. I settled back down next to Larxene on the couch we were laying on.

"We should go look at stars after this." She whispered to me. Larxene was the most random girl I had ever met. She loved things like bloody horror movies and video games, but then she also like looking at stars and making cookies.

But I liked her anyway for it.

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**Roxas-**

I couldn't take it anymore. Silently I hoisted myself up from the floor and climbed the metal staircase up to our bedrooms. I strained to hear any trace of sound in the hallway, but everything was silent except for the sound of the t.v. downstairs. It wasn't until I was right outside of Sora's room that I could hear voices. Leaning up against the door I tried to catch as much of the conversation as I could.

"Complicated……feelings……worried…….friendship…..you……don't……..had to say….." I pressed harder up against the door, trying to make out full sentences. But all I could still hear was words hear and there, though I could tell that Sora was doing all the talking. I had yet to hear Riku say something.

"The same…please…….begging you to…..means…..anxious…." I sighed in frustration. This was getting me no where. If I wanted to find out anything I needed a different method.

As carefully and as quietly as I could, I turned the door knob, pushing the door open just enough so that I could hear better and kind of see into the room. Riku was sitting by himself on Sora's bed. Sora himself I couldn't see so I figured he was by his desk somewhere.

"I really don't know when it happened but I'm guessing awhile ago, I've just never admitted it to myself until a few weeks ago." Sora sounded like he was going to throw up. "I'd understand if you are freaked out or something but I do feel a lot better now that you know, I'm just scared that it will mess up our friendship, which I really don't want because you're my best friend Riku and…"

I closed the door without making as much as a soft click noise when the door fully closed. I was proud of Sora for standing up to his feelings and finally telling Riku how he felt. It would be good for him. I just hoped it all worked out.

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**Sora-**

Riku was just staring at me, this blank look on his face. Shit maybe I shouldn't have told him. He only saw me as a friend, if he even did after the huge speech that had suddenly poured from my mouth. I knew he was straight. He had had tons of girlfriends, so why did I have to go and tell him and ruin my friendship with him?

"Wow….that's deep." Riku finally said, rubbing his eyes and shifting on my bed. I was expecting him to get up and leave, but he didn't. He just simply stared forward at my stack of CD's, as if he was in deep thought.

"I'm sorry." I muttered. I still couldn't believe that I had told him. I was so mad at myself.

"For what?" Riku seemed surprisingly unfazed.

"For telling you all that. I mean I know your into girls and…"

Riku cut me off. "What makes you think that?"

His comment surprised me, leaving me speechless for a second. "Well…you….you've had lots of girlfriends and….and you always seem to like a girl…" I let my voice trail off, not knowing really what to say.

Riku sighed, falling back onto his back on my bed again. "I don't. Its been my secret for years and all those girls were just cover-ups to get through high school without everyone treating me different or weird." He turned his head so he was looking at me. "So you wouldn't treat me differently."

"Why would I do that Riku I'm not that shallow of a person." He shrugged, holding onto my gaze with his.

"I don't know. The same reason it took you all this time to tell me what you just did." He sat up again and motioned for me to come sit by him on the bed.

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**Demyx-**

"Isn't that Orion's belt?" Namine pointed up in the sky. We were sitting in the backyard on the trampoline. Axel and Larxene had gone out the front door not long after the movie ended, and Namine and I had eventually wandered out the back door. A light breeze blew up and Namine giggled, moving in closer to me and resting her head on my shoulder. For once it was cloudy and rainy, and the sky was clear. Namine told me she knew most of the constellations and wanted to show them to me. So for the past twenty minutes she had been explaining each of the ones she found to me. I didn't mind though. I had been dreaming of this moment for weeks now.

_To kiss her or not to kiss her? If I do go for it she might kiss me back and lalala happily ever after ending. But what if I don't and she gets disappointed or thinks I don't like her more than a friend and moves on and finds someone else? But what if I kiss her and she DOESN'T like me back and is totally disgusted and creeped out and won't want to be associated with me anymore? _

_"_It's getting chilly. Let's go inside and make hot cocoa." Namine smiled up and me and rolled away, hopping off the trampoline. I sighed softly, looking up at the night sky again, praying that that hadn't been my only chance.

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**Sora-**

_Was this really happening? _Thoughts were reeling through my head as Riku flipped me over so I was lying on the bed next to him, his lips still attached to mine. I still couldn't figure out who had kissed who, but I was too into the moment right now to care. My main problem at the moment was whether or not someone was going to realize our absence and come bursting in the door. Riku had said that he hadn't told people he was gay because he didn't want to be treated differently, so I'm sure he wouldn't be too happy if someone walked in on us right now.

Riku ran his fingers through my hair, causing the butterflies in my stomach to have babies and kick into high gear. My leg wound its way around his as Riku swiped his tongue across my teeth, as if asking for entry.

He had just rolled over so he was on top of me during our make-out session when someone knocked on the door.

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**Marluxia-**

"I don't think right now is the best time Kairi." Kairi humphed and knocked on the door again, ignoring me.

"I think they are busy. They will come down later." Zexion and I exchanged glances, knowing fully well what was probably going on behind Sora's closed door. Kairi made a face but luckily walked away from the door and down the staircase. She had just rounded the corner towards the kitchen when the door opened a jar.

Zexion looked at me before saying, "We were just about to follow Kairi." He half-smiled at the jittery brunette and turned on his heel, myself following quickly behind him.

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**Review if it does so please you :-)**

**Next Chapter: I haven't decided yet...HA**


	14. Breakfast, Shopping, and Candles

**I've had plenty of time on my hands to write this...I just didn't know what to write, which explains the randomness of this chapter. Its not short, but its not really long either. I started getting lazy near the end of the chapter...oops...**

**The song the girl's sing is called "Picture to Burn" By Taylor Swift. Ah that song brings back memories of randomly blasting it in the car and sing/yelling it with all the girls in my bethel in Job's Daughters at random people on the street...**

**Disclaimer: See Chapter 1**

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**Chapter 14**

_Breakfast, Shopping, and Candles_

**Zexion-**

"And if you're missing me, better keep it to yourself, because coming back around here would be bad for your health!" There are a few things in this world I never want to be woken up to, especially when I'm having one of the best dreams of my life involving becoming the first author to make over a billion dollars on one book. They are a hurricane, someone I've never met before lying next to me in my bed, and annoying beeping alarm clocks that get faster the longer you let them go. As of this Sunday morning I had another one to add to my list.

A gaggle of girls sitting in various spots on my bed singing Taylor Swift to wake me up.

Groaning loudly I rolled over in my oversized bed, snuggling my face down into one of the black pillows, hoping that they would get the point and leave.

They didn't.

"Cause I hate that stupid old pick-up truck you never let me drive…" I recognized Yuffie's voice as she took a solo. I growled an obscenity under my breath. Sunday was the one day of the week I could usually sleep past eight, and they weren't going to let me.

"You're a redneck, heartbreak, who's really been a lie!" Olette went next, her voice much higher in the soprano range than Yuffie's was. I pulled the comforter tighter around my shoulders.

"So watch me strike a match on all my wasted time, in case you haven't heard…" Kairi was sitting very close to my head, I could tell by how she was practically breathing into my ear as she sang.

"I really really hate that stupid old pick-up truck you never let me drive!" Namine giggled as she bounced up and down on the edge of my bed.

"You're a redneck heartbreak who's really been a lie, watch me strike a match on all my wasted time, as far as I'm concerned you're just another picture to burn, burn, burn, burn baby burn! Just another picture to burn!" All four girls chorused together at the end, laughing and jumping up and down on my bed.

"Wakey Wakey Zexy!" Olette pounced down next to where I was lying, getting as close to my face as possible, considering I had it buried as deep as my pillows would allow.

Reluctantly I rolled back onto my back and pushed myself up on my elbows, surveying the giggly brunette sitting next to me with a huge, cheesy smile plastered on her face.

"If I do will you not call me that?" All the girls started to laugh loudly, though I didn't see the joke in it. I wasn't very fond of being called Zexy, especially when that Justin Timberlake person whoever he is made that "Bringing Sexy Back" song. All the girls teased me forever, claiming the song said "Zexy" instead of "Sexy."

"Sure Zexy…ion! You just have to come downstairs right now! We are making breakfast!" Muttering under my breath I checked the grim reaper clock dangling over my desk. 7:30. No wonder I couldn't get myself to get up. None of us had gone to bed until at least three, most of the girls except Larxene were scared from the movies we watched and had forced us to stay up with them most of the night.

And now they expected me to get up now and eat? I didn't want to eat. I wanted to sleep.

I tried to lie back down but they wouldn't let me, shoving at me and pulling my hair until I forced myself to get completely out of bed.

Finally the foursome was satisfied in their scheming plan to wake me up.

"Let's go wake up Marly now!" Olette practically shrieked, clapping her hands together. The girls ran giggling out of my room, slamming open Marluxia's door across the hall.

Resisting the urge to lay back down and stay in the peaceful dark of my room, I pulled a hoodie sluggishly over my head before I headed out the door.

I could hear the girls loudly singing Carrie Underwood in Marluxia's room. As I passed his room, I could tell he was having the same reaction as I had, trying to curl up and get away from the voices without having to leave the warm comfort of the bed.

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**Axel-**

Marluxia, Sora, Riku, and Zexion were already seated at the kitchen table when I finally shoved myself out of bed, mostly because of Larxene, who had literally shoved me off the bed so I would wake up. Neither Marluxia nor Zexion were looking particularly pleased at being awake.

"Good morning!" I said brightly, seating down across from Zexion, just to see how many glares I got. I was slightly disappointed I only received two, a look of mild annoyance from Marluxia, and a stare of utter death from Zexion. Sora mumbled something back at me, but it was too incoherent to understand, so I couldn't tell if he was greeting me back or cussing me out.

One by one the rest of the boys wandered into the kitchen, yawning and rubbing their eyes, Demyx being the last one, being literally pushed into the kitchen with the other four girls behind him.

"You all have to go in the dining room!" Namine was a little too happy for this time in the freaking morning.

"Why?" Roxas scrunched his nose up, as if moving one room over was the worst possible request you could ask of a person. He hung his head down, trying not to yawn, though he failed at suppressing it.

"Because it's not as crowded in there, and so we can cook without distraction." Yuffie's tone indicated as if she thought none of us spoke proper English. Mumbling and groaning underneath our breath, all of the guys got up and moseyed through the swinging dining room doors. Larxene didn't come with us because she stayed behind to help the rest of them cook.

"I'm too tired to eat…" Marluxia mumbled, closing his eyes and putting his head down on his arms.

"Yea this is the last time we stay up that late over a couple of stupid movies." Roxas ran a hand through his unruly blonde locks, only to cause them to become even more tangled and disheveled. Riku stretched his arms behind his head, nudging Sora with his elbow as he brought them back down. Sora smiled as big as he could muster at the crack of dawn, elbowing Riku back. It was pretty obvious to all of us now, considering we only saw them once around one in the morning when they came back to the living room for half an hour before they claimed they were tired and went back up to Sora's room.

A loud sudden burst of laughter from the kitchen caused Marluxia to jump and raise his head up. He attempted to brush hair away from his eyes, only to have it fall right back into place over his face. Marluxia had a lot of hair, which would surprise you if you only met him once or twice if had already taken a shower that morning and brushed it tame. But if you actually lived with him you knew how he often complained, saying he had enough hair for three people, which wasn't over exaggerating.

Demyx was staring down at the thin carpet. "Wow this carpet has kind of a weird design on it. Has anyone else ever noticed that?" Demyx didn't wait for an answer, just continued to stare down at his feet.

Within two minutes everyone at the table, including myself, were staring down at the carpet, analyzing how someone would be able to design such a random, curly-q design. The lines and squiggles seemed to go everywhere with no plan at all, as if a three year old had taken a dark blue marker and had scribbled all over the white carpet.

We were still staring at the floor when the dining room door connecting to the kitchen swung open, and the girls finally came in. "What's so interesting?" Larxene asked, stopping in her tracks to try to locate what we were all looking at.

"The floor….the design is so uncoordinated and we want to know how someone thought it up." Hayner absentmindedly said his voice far off and distant.

"Well stop studying it and eat!" Kairi set down a plate in the middle of the table with a fanfare of her hands, as if she expected an orchestra to appear behind her. Namine and Olette followed suit, placing two other plates on the table. The first plate had all bacon on it, and nothing else. The second plate had eggs and toast, and the third had pancakes.

The food woke me up a little bit, but not enough to keep me from daydreaming of my bed. Larxene had sat down next to me and was telling me about something that happened in her pre-calculus class on Friday, but I wasn't really paying attention to her. The syrup on top of my pancakes was slowly trickling down the side to pool together around the bottom pancake, and for some reason I was finding it fascinating. The way the syrup seemed never ending on the top, though the puddle and the bottom was steadily turning into a lake.

It was Marluxia who finally broke my heavy concentration when he finally tired of constantly flipping his unruly hair out of his face and said he was going to go take a shower and see if it would shake the last dregs of sleep away.

As he was leaving Larxene leaned over and snatched a piece of bacon of my plate, smirking at me as she bit the top of it off, giving me a look as if she had just stolen my wallet. I had to smile, at least I wasn't the only weird one in the mornings.

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**Demyx-**

"So what's next on the list?" I asked, scanning the billions of different kinds of cheese in front of me. _Gouda? What was gouda?_

"Pineapple…" Zexion muttered from behind me, peering down at the list Mom had given him in his hand. After everyone had left, we had all tried to use Marluxia's method of taking a shower to wake up so we could go to the store and get the groceries Mom had asked us to get while she was away at her convention. We all ended up crashing in the living room for a good hour before we dragged ourselves up to come to the store, where I discovered just exactly how many types of cheese there was in this world.

Roxas pulled me away from the cheese before I got left behind. Axel was lazily pushing the buggy in front of me, both arms draped over the handled, his hands dipping down into the basket. I strangled behind him, taking in the sight of all the people around me. It was amazing how many people did their food shopping before noon on Sundays. I liked people watching, from frumpy old ladies in fur coats carrying toy poodles to overly-stressed mothers dragging five-year olds through the aisles as quickly as they could.

"Where is the damn pineapple in this place anyway?" Marluxia moaned, glancing down another aisle as we past by it. I was starting to notice he had the tendency to throw obscenities in every other sentence when he was overly sleepy or annoyed. We had already checked all the obvious aisles for the pineapple. I suggested we just buy and actual one and slice it up, but everyone else rejected my idea.

When we started to wander through every single aisle I let my mind drift again, thinking about Namine. I had been so mad at myself last night when I just let her walk away when I had been so close to kissing her. I was doing fine until I started to think to much and freak myself out. I had the picture she drew in my room, sitting on top of my dresser. She told me she drew it for me, since I gave her the picture of the unicorn and the rainbow.

"Pineapple!" Sora's joyous cry brought me back to reality, but not before I ran into straight into some large woman who was heading down the opposite way in the aisle. She shrieked something inaudible at me, waving her large hands in the air. It kind of sounded like it was in Spanish or something. She gave me one last "humph!" before continuing at a leisurely pace down the aisle, flicking her drab stringy light brown hair over her shoulder. Everyone else was in hysterics, which I had to admit, it was funny.

"Did we get everything?" Sora asked, peering over Zexion's shoulder in the check out line. Zexion nodded silently, eyes sweeping over the list again, while Axel and Marluxia dragged stuff out of the buggy and placing it on the conveyor belt thingy.

"I need another nap." I yawned, closing my eyes. As soon as I did imagery of Namine entered my head. I recalled that feeling this morning when I finally willed my eyes to open and she was sitting next to me on my bed, smiling brightly at me. The pretty female had giggled her sweet giggle before latching onto my hand and tugged on it until I got up. Her hair looked perfect as always, even though she couldn't have been up that long.

"Hey lover boy! Come one we are leaving!" Axel voice floated back at me. My eyes flew open and I hurriedly tried to catch up with them as they left the store, heading towards the cars. Everyone was still laughing about the Spanish woman from before. Their laughter only increased when she drove past us, turning in the driver's seat and giving me a sour look.

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**Sora-**

The shock of last night still hadn't set in. Had Riku really said he liked me back and had kissed me? Or did I dream the whole thing. When I woke up this morning a feeling of despair had spread quickly through the pit of my stomach as I realized it had all just been a dream. That is, until I rolled over and Riku was lying next to me in my bed. He had softly pulled on one of my spikes and smiled. "Good morning sunshine."

During breakfast we had just sat there until he had nudged me in my side, where he knew I was ticklish. I nudged him back with my elbow, enjoying the soft smile that spread across his face. Halfway through my stack of pancakes I felt his hand reach over underneath the table and grab my fee hand that had been resting on my knee, causing me to almost choke on the large bite of food I had just shoved in my mouth. I had painfully swallowed and stole a glance at him next to me, munching leisurely on a piece of bacon, saying something to Olette, as if holding hands with me was nothing new.

I walked him out to his car not too long after breakfast was over. He leaned against the silver exterior, telling me to call him or text him later, even though he knew I would. Without hesitating he leaned in, planting a long, soft kiss upon my lips. Even though we had kissed for hours the night before it still gave me hardcore butterflies as if it was the very first kiss all over again. He pulled away and gently flicked my nose before climbing into his car.

Now I was sitting in the living room in one of the white chairs, staring out the window at the sky. Dark clouds were looming overhead as far as I could see. The bushes and little, colorful trees in the front yard were bending over sideways against the hard gusts of the wind. The lightning I had been watching from far off was getting closer by the minute. It was already past eight at night, so the sky was almost completely black. A rumble of thunder shook the windows slightly, causing Lady to whimper. Marluxia absentmindedly stroked her head, watching something on the news about some psycho serial killer.

"Did you see that one?" Demyx, who was looking out the window in the screen door said as a bright flash of purple light up the sky, making everything outside visible for a split second.

"Yea that one was kick ass." Roxas had wandered over to sit next to me in the recliner. Marluxia and Axel had broken away from the murderer story and turned the t.v. off, turning around on the couch to look out the windows. Zexion had even put his book down, carrying Snicker Doodle to join the duo on the couch.

We waited for a full five minutes without any more lightening and only a couple little rolls of thunder. "Damn." Axel cursed. "I thought this was actually going to be a good…" A loud crack cut him off as a flash of bright blue lit up the living room when I bolt of lightening stuck the ground somewhere across the street. A huge boom of thunder shook the house as we were thrust into pitch black darkness.

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**Marluxia-**

Snicker Doodle starting crying loudly as Lady shot out of the living room, brushing past me and thundering up the stairs.

"Anyone remember where in hell a flashlight is?" I tried to locate where Axel was by the sound of his voice, since I couldn't even see my hand in front of my face. Before the lights went out he had been sitting right next to me, but he sounded like he was standing over by staircase.

"We don't have one anymore remember? Lady got a hold of it and broke our only one." Zexion's voice sounded like he was over by the kitchen door.

"Someone help me find some candles then. Mom has a bunch in her room." I stood up from the couch, intent on locating the door to the kitchen.

Walking blindly forward, I kept my hands out to feel along things and figure out where I was. _I must be in the middle of the room, _I thought, since I couldn't find a damn thing to help me indicate where I was. I kept walking forward. _I don't remember the living room being this big._

I reached my hand out to the side, looking for a piece of furniture. My finger tips had just brushed against fabric when I collided head on with someone else. Both of us collapsed down on the floor.

"Ow……" Demyx's voice was muffled next to me. "I think my nose is bleeding."

"Sorry Dem…" Bright little flashes of light were dancing in front of my eyes.

"What happened?" Zexion's voice was getting closer. A flash of lightening lit up the living room, just in time for me to spot Zexion trip on both Demyx and I, who were lying in the on the floor. He fell backwards onto his back to join us on the ground.

Sora and Roxas must have been able to see us when the lightening had flashed, because both of them were in hysterics. I sighed leaning my head back against the floor, closing my eyes to try to get rid of the mini lights and my rapidly growing headache.

Roxas and Sora were still laughing when there was a creak of a door and the unmistakable "fwish" sound of a match. Axel's face was illuminated by a large candle he was cradling in his arms. He had four more candles, two under each arm.

Axel raised an eyebrow at the three of us on the floor, snorting back a laugh as he set his candles down one of the coffee tables. We struggled to our feet, Demyx holding both hands over his nose. Sora pulled out a Kleenex from the dispenser on the coffee table and handed it to him.

Axel placed each candle in a different spot to dispense the light better. Another roll of thunder rattled the windows, making Snicker Doodle whine again. Zexion scooped her up in his arms as we all sat down around a candle in the middle of the floor.

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**Roxas-**

"What time is it?" I laced my fingers together and stretched my arms above my head, yawning. Sora tightened the blanket around him and glanced at the battery-powered clock on the wall behind me.

"Almost eleven-thirty." Sora replied. Axel groaned, putting his head down in his hands.

"Three and a half hours! Damn…" He yanked the hood on his hoodie over his head. After about an hour the house started to get cold so we had been forced to wander our rooms to grab sweaters and blankets. The thunder and lightening had died down for the most part but thick raindrops were still heavily pelting the house. The house was kind of creepy, being absolute silent with no soft buzz from the stove clock or humming from the thermostat. Lady had finally appeared a few minutes ago. We had tried our best to find her by candle light before but gave up when she was nowhere to be seen. She was laying part way in Axel's lap, her eyes closed.

"Maybe we should go to bed and hope the power is on in the morning." Demyx mumbled, falling over from his sitting position so he was lying sideways on the floor, his blanket brought up around his nose.

"I concur." Zexion agreed, staring out the window at the heavy rain drops streaking the windows. Marluxia mumbled something incomprehensible, his head ducked underneath his arms, his hood over his head.

"Yea. We do have school tomorrow." Sora yawned, standing up and picking up a candle from one of the tables. Marluxia followed suit, taking the candle on top of the t.v. Zexion stood up carefully so he wouldn't wake the sleeping German Shepard puppy in his arms, picking up his own candle.

Once everyone had a candle we trudged through the living room and up the chilly staircase in a line of little flickering flames, marching down the hallway and branching off from the group to our doors. My room was the last door at the very end of the hallway.

Opening the door a large whoosh of cold air rushed out to meet me, snuffing out my candle. I'd left my window open, the curtains billowing up and thrashing around like crazy, the window seal, wall, and floor were soaked. Stumbling my way through the dark I slammed the window shut against the storm. I shifted my hand around on the floor until I found a pair of shorts. Pulling them on I slipped into bed, shivering against the harsh cold that was the result of my stupidity of leaving my window open.

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**Review if it does so please you to do so.**

**Next Chapter: ...Haven't decided yet...**

**I'll take any ideas still! I save all of them!**


	15. The Sneezles

**Hoorah 15! Excitement. Please excuse the slight rushness of this chapter as I just got home yesterday and I'm leaving tomorrow night to fly out to Texas for a week for my cousin's wedding. I'm a bridesmaid WOO:-) I am defiently going to post the story I'm writing in my notebook, although probably not until I've written at least three chapters, or I'll end up never updating this story. I'm thinking of calling my other story Cyanide...if I can't think of a better name...**

**Dedication: forgottenmelodies, everyone's favorite idea maker came up with the basic idea of the cold after Roxas's window was left open in the last chapter. I'd also like to thank The Maury Show for having the two actual guests that Roxas is watching on t.v. and prompting me to talk to the people on the show while eating soup and weirding out my dog. Yes I based that whole little bit on the true occerance of me doing that. **

**Ideas? Yes. I'll take them. I have some from several people that I plan to use...when the time is right...**

**Maybe its just me, but writing this made me sneeze constantly.**

**Disclaimer: See Chapter 1**

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**Chapter 15**

_The Sneezles_

**Roxas-**

"Man this blows." I mumbled under my breath as I reached for yet another paper towel. I had been attempting to pour a simple bowl of cereal for the past five minutes, but I kept having to stop to sneeze. At least the power was back on. It hadn't turned on till sometime after five this morning, I remembered since I had attempted to get up and go to the bathroom, only to succeed in tripping my way down the hall and stepping on Lady's tail.

Rubbing my tongue on the roof of my mouth, I carefully carried my finally prepared breakfast out of the kitchen and into the living room. Since Mom wouldn't be home till tomorrow we weren't bothering with sitting at the table this morning. I sat down next to Demyx on the small couch, trying to identify what Marluxia and Axel were watching now. That murderer story again. I stirred my Fruit Loops absentmindedly around in the bowl. I was hungry, I think, I just couldn't get myself to eat.

"Why are you two so interested in that homicidal fre…ACHOO!" I cut myself off with a huge sneeze, knocking the bowl of crunchy circles all over my lap and the couch.

"EEUUUWWW!" Demyx howled, grabbing his bowl of Reeses Puffs and bounding across the room to sit next to Marluxia on the bigger couch. Miserably I set the half full bowl on the floor and got up to retrieve a tissue.

"Geez Rox, what got you so sick?" Sora was scrunching his nose in slight disgust as I rubbed the thin piece of material across my nose, making a face of my own at the taste in my mouth.

"I don't know, I think it's because I left my window open during that storm last night." My nose was so stuffy that it garbled my voice so much that I could hardly understand myself.

"Well don't give it to me." Zexion muttered from his usual place in the black recliner. He was leaning away, as if there was a bubble of contamination surrounding me as I passed by him to grab a towel from the laundry basket someone had brought upstairs earlier. I started scrubbing the milk off of the couch, pushing the colorful pieces of cereal into the bowl on the floor. I cleaned everything best as I could and set my abandoned breakfast in the sink before I returned to the living room.

"Maybe you should stay home." Marluxia said, eyeing me as he came down the staircase, pulling a black hoodie over his head. I noticed everyone else was getting ready to leave too, while I was still wearing sweat pants.

"I can get your homework for you." Sora added, shouldering his backpack. Staying home did sound pretty good. Wearily I sank onto the clean couch with a sigh, closing my eyes.

"Yea I think I will." I mumbled back, running a hand through my hair.

"Just keep all your sickness to yourself!" Demyx sang out as he followed the rest of them out the door. Without bothering to move I stretched out across the couch, turning down the volume on the t.v. and leaning my head back against the arm rest.

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**Marluxia-**

Axel cursed softly under his breath as he, Larxene and I leaned against the window in Anatomy, watching the storm clouds swirl around in the sky outside. "I hope it doesn't knock the power out again." The room grew darker as the sun disappeared behind a large, dark cloud. Patches of sky still filtered out of the gloom here and there, but it the sky was mostly black with storm clouds. A soft patter of raindrops began hitting the window.

Ms. Barberry started bitching at us that five minutes of class was still five minutes of which we should be spending sitting at our desks doing homework or something productive instead of daydreaming and looking out the window. On my way back to my desk I sneezed, freezing momentarily in my tracks. What if I had caught a cold from Roxas? I **despised **being sick.

"Dude I think Roxas spread his germy love to you." Axel laughed out loud as he sank down into his seat behind my own desk.

"Do you really think so?" I moaned, sitting down in my own desk. Instantly Axel nodded his head.

"One time he got the stomach flu and everyone else in the house got it but me." Axel smiled proudly, as if not getting the flu was an award winning accomplishment. "It will probably happen again with this."

"Damn it!" I cursed softly, playing absentmindedly with a strand of hair.

"Shut up Axel you'll get that stupid cold just you wait!" Larxene giggled, putting her hand over her mouth.

"No way! I'm invincible to stuff like that." Axel smiled brightly at us, running a hand smoothly over the top of his dark red hair. Larxene snorted in disbelief, flicking her own hair smoothly over her shoulder.

"Just watch fire boy, give it two days and you will be the one sitting on the couch at home slurping down chicken noodle soup and watching the Maury Show." Larxene smirked.

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**Roxas-**

"Oh come on! Testing your eighteenth man? If you've slept with that many people in that little time span that you could have gotten pregnant, you're never going to find your kid's dad." I mumbled through slurps of soup at the t.v. I had fallen asleep for the rest of the morning, waking up in time to make some soup and flip through channels for ten minutes before finally settling on watching the Maury Show.

"You are not the father!" I laughed loudly as loud cheering came from the t.v. Snicker Doodle, who had jumped on the couch with me since Zexion wasn't there, looked up at me, her head cocked to the side in confusion. I stroked the aforementioned dog behind the ear, my eyes still glued to the glowing box of entertainment. Who knew that the Maury show could be so entertaining and addicting?

"Coming up: Is this thirty-year old's baby belong to her husband or her eighteen year old lover? Stay tuned!" I pried myself off the couch, carrying my bowl to the kitchen. I placed it in the dishwasher, slamming the door shut before I glanced out the window. A light rain had started to come down again from the still darkened sky.

I hoped the power wouldn't go out again, I wanted to see who was the father of that kid.

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**Demyx-**

_Just ask her to go get a smoothie or something after school. It's not that hard! _I took a deep breath, standing outside my AP Lit class, watching Namine, perched on top of a desk, giggle at something Olette said. Straightening my back and attempting to hold my head up in confidence, I trotted my way into the room, hoping I looked secure and in control of myself, rather than a complete nervous wreck.

"Hey Namine." Great, that sounded good. My voice didn't shake at all as I slid as casually into my seat as I could.

"Hey Dem." She smiled her bright smile at me, revving up the internal butterflies in my stomach. I took another deep breath to try and tame them.

"So do you have cheerleading practice after school today as usual?" My best bet was to ask her out in a casual way, she was more likely to say yes. Plus, this way I could find out if she was busy before I actually asked her.

"Nope. We have today off because coach it out of town visiting her parents. Why do you ask?" She cocked her head to the side, straight blonde tresses slipping down across her shoulder. The butterflies in my stomach mated and had babies.

"We…Well I was ju…just wondering if you maybe…woul….would want to…." _Great Demyx just stutter your way through it and look like a total loser. _Namine's smile grew as my stuttering worsened. Shifting my eyes away I quickly finished my sentence. " maybe you would want t…to go get a smoothie or something after school?" I rushed through the last part, mentally slapping my self. Her pretty smile grew even more. She probably was laughing at me on the inside, but was just too polite to do it in my face.

"Sure Dem, I'll just meet you at the doors to the back parking lot after school, ok?" She flipped her hair softly over her shoulder, giggling slightly as I couldn't help a shit eating grin to spread across my face.

"Yea, yea that would be great!" Namine giggled again before the final bell rang and everyone rushed to their seats. She waved at me, hopping off of Olette's desk and gliding her way across the room to her seat. I watched her go, the smile still plastered in place. I started to turn around in my seat but Olette's smirking face behind me caught my attention.

"What?" I accused of her, but she just shrugged, her eyes glinting.

"Nothing….its just about time you finally asked her out. You've been crushing on her for practically _eternity_." She waved her hand through the air. "And on top of that she has been waiting for months for you to finally say something."

I could practically feel my eyes light up. "Really? She's wanted me to ask her out?" I practically squealed, but managed to keep inside my head.

Olette rolled her eyes at me. "Duh. I can't believe you couldn't see that. She talks about you _constantly. _It's always Demyx this, Demyx that. Demyx Demyx Demyx. She's been wanting you to ask forever. I doubt that will change all her talking of you though." Olette stated all this as if it was old news, examining her fingernails.

The teacher called for everyone's attention, so I had to turn around. My heart was beating a thousand miles per hour. It didn't help when I glanced over at Namine, still smiling.

She smiled back at me.

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**Sora-**

I could see Riku's face light up from all the way across the math hallway as he spotted me. I shoved my way through the crowded hallway, earning quite a few pissed off stares. But at the moment I could care less what other people were thinking. Riku was shoving his way through the crowd too, until we finally met, right outside of the Wen Room.

Without hesitating Riku wrapped his arms around me in a hug. I followed suit, deeply breathing in his scent. He tightened his grip before pulling away, looking happily straight into my eyes, but he didn't kiss me. I didn't blame him. Two boys hugging in the hallway at high school was one thing, two boys kissing in the hall was another.

"So did your power die last night too?" Riku said casually, as we started down the hallway together. We passed Hayner, a knowing smirk crossing his face.

"Yea. Freaked the dogs and cat out. Roxas forgot he left his window open and he caught a major cold." Riku snorted. "Sounds like something your brother would do." We made small talk as we mounted the back stairs to the English hall and made our way leisurely down it as if nothing was different between us.

I noticed Riku glance down at my hand as we continued down the slightly dark hallway, the sun still hidden behind clouds. I glanced up at him. We caught each others eyes and immediately looked away, like both of us were shy or something. My breath hitched as I felt his hand slid over and into mine. I looked back at him. He was looking at me, a small smile on his face. I smiled back, enjoying the feeling of our fingers laced together.

When we finally reached my next class, no one was in the room yet, not even the teacher. Riku glanced out the door once, and without hesitating leaned forward and gently placed his lips on mine. I leaned forward to deepen our kiss, but just as fire burned across my stomach, there was air in between our lips again. Riku smiled at me. "See you after class." He whispered, before he left, blowing a kiss at me as he walked out the door, just before the other kids in my class started filtering into the room.

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**Zexion-**

_I'm going to kill Roxas. _My mind was steaming as I sneezed for the third time in the past two minutes, covering my face with my hands and despising the feeling it left on my hands. I sniffed as I dug around in my bag, attempting to find a tissue. Behind my Yuffie and Kairi giggled.

"What's so funny?" I shot them a look as I finally fished a pocket pack of tissue paper out of my backpack.

"Poor Zexy has a cold!" Yuffie pretended to pout, placing her index finger underneath her eye and dragging it down to her chin to symbolize a tear. I glared at her as I tore the pack open.

"It's not my fault, Roxas is the one who got sick first and felt the need to pass it onto me, and don't call me Zexy." I sneezed again, causing both girls next to me to start giggling again.

"Aw it's alright Zexion it'll be gone in a few days." Kairi reverted back to using my actual name as Mrs. Vigil laid a light blue paper on my desk. Phrases in French covered one part of the paper, long blank lines covered the other.

"Dang I hate French quizzes!" Yuffie moaned, looking down at the paper on her desk in disgust. I wasn't fond of quizzes too much either, but it wasn't like they were extremely tough or anything.

I rubbed at my steadily growing itchy eyes, trying to focus on the words. I had just started to write down the translation on the first blank when I sneezed _again. _Sneezing was one of the worst things in the world, in my opinion. It was gross and you always ended up making a weird, unflattering noise. I sighed as I pulled a new sheet of tissue out of the little pack.

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**Axel-**

"Did Roxas get you sick too!?" I couldn't help laughing as Zexion coughed harshly as we climbed into the car. Demyx had taken off in the other car with Namine, so Marluxia, Sora, Zexion, and I all piled into the remaining one. Zexion didn't answer, only gave me a look of death as Marluxia backed the car out of the space, pausing to sneeze. Sora seemed like he hadn't been attacked by the cold yet.

"You're going to catch it too, Axel. Just wait." Sora grinned annoyingly at me from the back seat. I raised an eyebrow, smirking at his comment.

"You forgot Sora, I don't get sick. I'm immune to all of you guy's sicknesses, whatever they may be!" I stretched my hands as high above my head as possible in the car. "It's my gift I haven't caught anything from any of you! Not when Roxas got the flu or when….when….Mom had that….ah…ah….achoo!" Instantly my hands flew to my face as the other three, including Zexion burst into hysterical laughter.

"So much for that gift!" Sora managed to say between fits of laughter. I regained my composure. "Who says it's that cold? What if I just had to sneeze? You sneeze all the time, you don't need a cold to sneeze." I wasn't getting sick. I couldn't get sick…I hoped I wasn't getting sick.

"You're going to wake up in the morning and are going to end up staying home, cursing your so called "gift" that doesn't even exist." I could hear the smirk in Zexion's voice behind me. I didn't answer him, but I had a strange feeling he might actually be right.

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**Review if it does so please you to do so :-) they make me happy and want to update faster**

**Next Chapter: Don't know quite yet what the title will be...it'll come to me just wait...**


	16. The Cure

**Huzzah I have returned from my long time away in Texas. Well I've been home since Monday but I've been doing totally random things since I've been back like running around in the street in the rain and randomly buying blueberry pie and eating it while watching game shows...**

**This chapter is exactly nine words longer than the previous chapter, which disappoints me because I wanted it to be longer. However I did leave out Sora and Axel POV's. Forgive forgive!!! I really wanted to get it up before I leave for Denver for a couple of days with my family so my sister can go dress shopping. Joy. Also in this chapter I give reference to "sea salt taffy" it sounds so much more...Kingdom Heartsy that saltwater taffy don't you think?**

**Disclaimer: See Chapter 1**

**Dedication: I would like to dedicate this chapter to Polish who wrote me several reviews on which I recieved on a total craptastic day I was having and made that day a little bit brighter :-)**

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**Chapter 16**

_The Cure_

**Roxas-**

"I hate you." The three simple words were all Zexion bothered to say to me as he stormed through the front door and the living room and up the stairs. I rose an eyebrow and turned to my brother for an explanation, getting a shrug in return. "I think you gave him your cold." He dropped his backpack on the floor and came to sit next to my blanketed feet. Cracking a smile he added, "I think you gave it to Axel too." Axel snorted as he made his way past us and towards the kitchen.

"Says you!" He sung out before sweeping through the door. He returned no more than a minute later, clutching a box of white cheddar Cheez-Its. "So I sneezed a couple of times in the car on the way home. Big whoop. You can sneeze and not have a cold." He picked up the remote and started aimlessly flipping through channels, digging into the box of baked crackers.

"So did I miss anything important?" I turned my attention to my brother again, digging a fresh tissue out of the almost empty box. Sora leaned back against the back of the couch, eyeing Axel's Cheez-Its.

"Well, Tifa and Aerith finally got into a fight over that guy they both crush on that lives in that town not far from here." He tugged on a thread on his sleeve.

"No way!" I howled, mentally slapping myself for not going to school today. "Was it just words and shoving or and all out fist fight?" Sora smiled, as if he had accomplished something huge. "All out. They were rolling around on the floor and ripping at each other's hair and stuff…" Axel cut him off with a coughing fit, before he sneezed. I couldn't help the smirk that spread across my face.

"I'm **not** sick." He declared, returning to his channel surfing. I ignored his ignorance and turned back to Sora. "Who won?"

"Well pretty much Tifa did. The takes marshal arts and all that so it was kinda predictable." Marluxia descended down the stairs out of nowhere. I hadn't even seen him come in the door. He had a nasty habit of being dead quiet and then popping out of nowhere like that. He drew his attention to our conversation as he got to the bottom step.

"I saw that. Who was the guy they were fighting over anyway?" He sat down in the armchair opposite of Axel, managing to lean over and steal some of the crackers from the sacred box.

"Some guy named Cloud. He lives in a different town so I have no idea who he is." Sora replied monotonously. Marluxia, however, sat up, extremely curious.

"Do you know his last name?" Sora gave him an odd look at his curiosity, straining to remember his last name. "…Strife… I think. Why?"

"I used to go to school with him! We went to parties together all the time." This caught everyone's attention, even Axel's. True Marluxia hadn't been here long enough for us to know everything about him, but from his out-front shyness and the way he stayed mostly quiet unless he knew you very well, he didn't strike me as the party goer type of guy.

"Sweet! I can't believe you are friends with the legendary Cloud! Do you guys still talk?" Sora's voice made him sound as if Marluxia was best buds with the Pope, and not just another high schooler everyone knew about, but never met.

"Yea. We send emails back and forth and text all the time. Why is this so exciting?" He looked confused, and I couldn't blame him.

"Why didn't you ever mention him before?" Sora pressed, leaning slightly forward from his seat on the couch.

Marluxia shrugged. "I didn't think it was that important or that he was that epic around here. He might come up here one weekend to hang out. I haven't seen him since I moved here."

"Well I want to meet him. Tell him to come like….this weekend or something." Sora finally leaned back against the couch again, Marluxia still looking confused about the whole ordeal. Axel went back to channel surfing. I sneezed, too late to cover to grab a fresh tissue and ended up covering my face with my hands, scrunching my nose up at the unpleasant gooeyness between my fingers.

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**Demyx-**

"So…how's that….that cooking class you're taking this semester?" I flinched at my own stuttering. So far I had spent half our date stuttering and mumbling, Namine usually asking me to repeat myself at least twice. I stirred my hardly touched strawberry banana smoothie around, attempting to keep eye contact with her.

She giggled under her breath. "It's pretty good. I like to make food that's appealing to the eye and pretty to look at. You know like in really fancy restaurants?" She took another sip of her caramel macchiato, not having any problem keeping her eyes on me.

"That's cool. Are you going to go to culinary school?" _This wasn't that hard, after all it was only a girl. A nice…pretty…sweet…awesome…girl…_I finally took a sip of my drink, swallowing several times to get it unstuck from the back of my mouth.

"Maybe. My daddy really wants me to study business so I can take over the family business one day, but I'd rather be working in the kitchen of a restaurant rather than managing it." She smiled brightly at me. "What do you want to do?"

_What did I want to do? What did I want to do? Oh yea! _"I think I want to go into music. Or directing. I'm not really sure if I want to be in a band or anything like that, but I wouldn't mind be a solo performer." Namine's smile grew.

"That's awesome! I bet you would be superb at it." Superb. Now who uses a word like that in common conversation? Only about the coolest girl ever. "You're really good at drawing too." She added, running her hand through her hair.

"Oh? I….I mean nah not really. Zexion's way better at it than I am." Damn my impertinent stuttering. Fortunately Namine understood me this time and didn't have to ask me to repeat myself for the millionth time tonight.

"Zexion is talented, true. But you're just as talented at it. I still have that drawing you made me of the unicorn. It's on my bedroom wall. I had to put it up really high so my little sister wouldn't destroy it by trying to color it." She'd kept it? And on her wall no less! I could feel warmth of happiness swarm across my stomach, branch out to my face, making me uncontrollably smile. I had kept the one she gave me, but I didn't suspect her to keep mine. The bell over the door chimed merrily as someone opened it, stepping out into the rapidly growing darkness. I glanced up at the clock on the wall.

"Crap! I better get home. Mom's coming home tonight, I should probably be there before she is." Namine nodded, sucking on her straw, making the last remains of her drink make a loud slurping noise, making me smile again. She stood up and threw the empty plastic up in the trash, pushing her chair neatly to the table's edge. I took the unfinished smoothie with me, pulling the heavy old door open of the small coffee shop open for her before stepping out side myself. Even though it was late November and the sun had almost completely set, it was still fairly warm out.

I opened her car door for her first before going over to my side. I felt dregs of nervousness sprout up in my stomach at first, worrying that I wouldn't be able to start a conversation again. Namine luckily took care of that for me, fiddling with the controls on the XM radio, flipping through all the stations and stopping on the ones that had the most amusing music on it. She laughed freely at the stations she found, especially the Christen style rap station, which she let play for the majority of the ride to her house.

I pulled the car up next to the driveway of the Victorian style house that Namine resided in. Her little sister was playing in the front yard, her blonde hair the same light shade as Namine's pulled up into to ponytails on the side of her head. Namine turned to me, ignoring her sister's confused looks that she was giving us in the car. Taking a quick deep breath I moved in towards her on instinct. To my surprise she was leaning back towards me. We met in the middle, our lips softly connecting, my heart pounding so hard I swore it was going to jump right out of my chest. _This is what I've been waiting for, and it's perfect, absolutely positively perfect and…_There was a sudden, loud rapping on Namine's window. She pulled away from me, turning to face her sister.

"WHAT ARE YOU TWO DOING??" She yelled through the glass, pressing her small face against the window. Namine sighed, holding up a finger to her sister before turning back to me. She smiled apologetically at me.

"See you at school tomorrow?" She asked. I nodded, smiling back at her. She giggled softly one more time before pushing open the car door. Reaching down she hoisted her little sister onto her hip before walking up the dark brick walkway. She paused at the door to blow me a kiss as I shifted the car into drive, feeling a lot lighter than I had in a long time.

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**Zexion-**

"I don't understand." Axel sighed, placing his chin in his hands, elbows resting on the counter top next to me and the stove.

"Don't understand what?" My voice was already starting to sound stuffy. I was already suspecting I wouldn't make it to school tomorrow.

"How you can cook and magically have it come out perfect every single time." Axel huffed, clearly still annoyed at the time he failed to prepare a non burnt meal.

"Axel…its macaroni and cheese. It's practically impossible to mess it up." I picked the pot off the pan and poured the now squishy noodles into the strainer that I had placed in the sink. I shook the noodles around some to get all the water out before sliding them carefully back into the pan. Slicing open the cheese packet and stirring I added, "See? It's not rocket science." Axel huffed again, exiting the kitchen into the dining room. Mom was due to be home any minute, and everyone else decided to elect me chef of the night. We didn't have much else besides a box of sharp cheddar macaroni and cheese and a bag of lettuce and chopped up carrots, so dinner ended up the simple pasta and salad combo. I had just finished mixing the cheese over the noodles when I felt a sneeze building up. I snatched up a tissue just in time, turning away from the food as I did so. I started coughing after that, but it hurt to do so for a long period of time. It pained my chest and my throat.

"God I hate this." I sniffled, returning to pour the main dish out of the pot and into an empty bowl sitting next to the one filled with lettuce just as I heard the front door open. A minute later Demyx practically ballet stepped his way into the room, sighing with obvious happiness.

"I see your date must have gone well." Marluxia's comment came from the doorway to the dining room. The smile plastered on Demyx's face didn't falter as he answered.

"Yup! It was the single happiest afternoon of my life." He stated, kicking his legs lightly in tune with a mute beat. I handed him the bowl of salad. "Take this will you?" I handed the other bowl to Marluxia as I left the kitchen, heading up the dark staircase to take my contacts out. The cold was causing them to annoy my eyes and give me a headache. I wasn't particularly fond of my glasses, but I couldn't take the dryness in my eyes that the contacts were causing.

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**Marluxia-**

Mom burst through the front door without warning just as Zexion returned from his bedroom, practically throwing her suitcase and shoulder bag onto the couch. Since I was the closest to the door she engulfed me first, wrapping her arms tightly around my middle, placing a kiss on top of my head.

"Oh Marluxia dear how I've missed you!" She pulled back to smile brightly at me before she rushed past to repeat the same ritual with each one of the rest. She had just pulled back from Roxas when he sneezed, throwing his head down to prevent sneezing on her.

"Oh dear! You have a cold baby!" Mom practically pouted as if someone had just stolen her last piece of sea salt taffy right out of her hands. "I have just the thing in my medicine cabinet that will…" Zexion cut her off with a coughing fit, trying to stifle the noise with his hands. In an instant Mom had bounded over to his side. "How many of you are sick?!" She cried, cupping Zexion's face in her hands.

"Well…" Roxas started, glancing around the room at us. "I got sick first and I guess I passed it onto Zexion and Axel, and maybe Marluxia." Axel cut in, trying to hold back from his own coughing fit. "I am not sick! I swear that I'm not!" Mom shook her head 'tsk tsking' under her breath.

"I have just the thing." She turned on her heel and walked briskly to the door on the far wall, not even having bothered to remove her coat or her hat yet. She emerged again, carrying a medium sized bottle.

"Now everyone is going to take some of this whether you feel sick or not." She took off the cap, filling it to the line and handing it to Roxas. He smelled the thick liquid before drinking it, making a face before gulping it down quickly. Mom smiled, patting his head and refilled the little cup, passing it to Axel, who threw his head back and downed it as if he was taking a shot.

When the little cup finally found its way into my hands, I decided it was better to just take it without examining it or smelling it first. I swallowed quickly, handing the cup back to Mom when it was empty. At first the taste that filled my mouth was kind of a peachy flavor, but the after taste was what was killer. It made me want to gag. I held back the urge and cringed instead, once Mom had turned her back.

"So besides this spread of sickness how has everything been since I've been gone?" Mom folded her napkin across her lap. We had finally sat down to dinner after Mom had taken off her coat and hat and put away her suitcase and changed.

"Not bad. Not too much has really happened this weekend." Sora said, shoveling food into his mouth.

"Well anything happen in the love department for any of you?" Her tone of voice almost made you think she already knew everything.

"Yea, Demyx finally got a kiss!" Axel yelled out, wearing a shit eating grin across his face. The aforementioned red-head received a death glare from the blonde as deep crimson touched the corners of his jaw line.

Mom practically squealed. "It was from Namine wasn't it? Oh I just knew you had a crush on that pretty little girl!" She rubbed Demyx's hair. "Oh my little boys are growing up so fast. Soon all of you are going to be off to college." She sighed, her eyes getting far and distant.

"So…Sora how are you and Riku?" Sora choked on the piece of lettuce he had just shoved down his throat.

"How did you know about that?" He managed to cough out once the initial shock had passed.

Our all knowing Mother smiled. "I've known you liked him for a long time sugar. So are you going to tell me if there is any development or not in said relationship?" She tilted her head to the side.

"Well…yea." It was all the answer he had to give. Mom actually did squeal this time, covering her face with her hands. "Aw that's so cute. I'm happy for you baby." She refolded her napkin and put it back on the table before standing up.

"Well I think I'm going to head off to bed boys." She made her way around the table, kissing each one of our heads, pausing to thank Zexion for cooking before she left the dining room. After a few minutes we all followed suit, trudging up the staircase and branching off to each one of our separate rooms.

I laid awake for a full hour after I had finally slid into bed and turned off the light. I still was in slight shock that Cloud had two girls in my new town fighting and pining over him. True he had talked once or twice about his "women" but I never asked who they were, or were they were at. I would have to bring the subject up when he texted me at his usually time tomorrow.

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**Review if it does so please you to do so and I shall be happy and reward you with...with...those petite smooth and melty mints that come in green, pink, and yellow and have white sprinkles on the bottom. You know you want them :-)**

**Next Chapter: Psh right now I'm flying at whatever goes when the moment comes**


	17. When Cloud Came to Town

**I started writing this yesterday. But several things happened. My friend called in dire need of a ride to work, my Mom wanted me to go on an errand as soon as I got home. When I got home from that I came down to the basement to finish when my Mom suddenly discovered that oil or something had gotten on my shoes and was now all over the living room carpet, which involved another trip to the store to find carpet cleaner. And those were my favorite shoes, and my favorite jeans, which are both now covered in the magic goop of doom. So I got up early today to finish this, as I am leaving in a few hours for Denver, where I shall fly out tomorrow to Indiana. Thankfully, this is my last trip this summer, and I'll be back the 29th. But then tennis practice starts, and then school two weeks after that...ahhhhhh**

**forgottenmelodies thought the same idea I did. Cloud coming YAY!!!! **

**Words: I actually got the word "Cry-i" from a song. I have no idea how to spell it, buts that how I spelled it. :-) its a fun word. I also got to use the word etcetera. Which is my fourth favorite word. Right after egotistical, huzzah, and yoink. **

**Disclaimer: See Chapter 1**

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**Chapter 17**

_When Cloud Came To Town_

**Sora-**

Riku and I had our first major fight on Friday. We had been "official" for six days. Needless to say it was one of those unnecessary fights that usually happen because someone is in an irritable mood because of something totally different, and the other person says something that sets them off in a rampage at them. In this case, Riku was the one who was in an irritable and aggravated mood that Friday, and I just happen to be the component that made him explode.

I had been walking down the hallway with Tifa Friday morning, telling her all the details of Cloud's future arrival that night, when I spotted Riku headed the same direction down the hallway, separated from me by a large group of giggle freshmen girls. I quickly said good-bye to Tifa, weaving my way through the tangled mess of short skirts and way too much make-up. But when I finally managed to break free, Riku was disappearing up the staircase to the second floor. Quickly I headed after him, dodging and swerving around everyone who milled about. I reached the landing of the second floor, looking up just in time to catch a glimpse of Riku's silver locks disappearing around the corner of the landing of the third floor. Groaning, I sprinted up the stairs after him. Fortunately not many teachers have classrooms on the third floor, so it was easier to navigate.

"Riku! Hey Riku!" I called out as I rounded the corner at the top of the stairs. By now I was starting to worry. Riku always waited for me after second period, even back when we weren't all over each other.

Either he didn't hear me, or he was ignoring me on purpose. I raced after him down the almost empty hallway, calling to him as the knot in my stomach continued to grow and tighten around my insides. I caught up to him just as he was about to enter his next class.

"Riku what's wrong? I haven't seen you all morning." Riku sighed audibly and turned to face me. He flicked his hair away from his face, but didn't make direct eye contact. His eyes kept darting around slowly, as if he was fascinated with the hallway's color scheme.

"I've just been busy Sora, now go to your classroom. You're going to be late." He spun quickly on his heel and entered the room, rounding the corner so I couldn't see him anymore. I couldn't just follow him in there and start asking for explanations with the classroom being full already. Not knowing what else to do I slowly turned and trudged down the hall and back staircase to the second floor,

I tried to concentrate, but my mind kept mulling over Riku and what in hell could be bothering him so much that he was almost flat out ignoring me unless I forced him to pay attention to me. I spent the entire hour watching the seconds on the clock tick by, willing time to go faster. Finally the bell rang to signal the end of class. I flew out of the room before the bell had even stopped ringing. I managed to make it to the staircase before most of the students had gotten out of their classrooms. I mounted the stairs quickly, taking them two or three at a time, hoping I could beat Riku out of his classroom and catch him in the hallway. I practically sprinted down the hallway, my eyes fixed on the people trudging out of the door. I slowed as I reached it, still hopefully scanning the people. It wasn't among them. I halted at the doorway, craning my head to look around the corner. It was empty. Sighing I continued down the hallway at a much slower pace, glancing up every once and a while to see if he was there, and I had just somehow missed him.

I didn't see Riku until after lunch, on my way to sixth period. He was coming down the hallway in the opposite direction, making my hopes soar. His eyes flickered onto me as we neared each other. I moved over in the hallway so that he couldn't just walk right past me. His eyes weren't happy when he got closer though. He looked aggravated and rushed.

Ignoring the look in his eyes, I took a deep breath before confronting him. "What's wrong Riku? Please tell me." It's not that I wanted to get up in every detail of his life, I just wanted to know what was wrong. He was acting funny, and it made me worry.

"I told you. It's nothing. I'm going to be late. So are you." It looked liked he rolled his eyes, but I couldn't tell for sure, since his hair had fallen across his face more than it usually did.

"It doesn't seem like nothing." I continued to pry, hoping Riku would drop his shield and just tell me.

"Just let it drop." Riku's voice started to rise.

"Why?" I was even more confused, now that Riku was starting to channel his anger at me, when all I wanted to do was help and comfort if needed.

"I said just leave it alone! Damn Sora why don't you stop worrying about my life and start worrying about yours!" Riku's voice jumped, shooting straight to downright yelling. People in the hallway stopped or slowed down to stare at us. Roxas and Zexion were among them.

"But Riku…" I could feel the heat rising up in my face.

"No Sora! Just leave me alone for once!" Riku's tone was louder and sharper than before. He shoved passed me, weaving quickly through the gawking passerby. I just stood there dumbly for a minute, staring at the space Riku had previously been standing. It felt like an eternity before everyone started moving on their way as Roxas and Zexion made their way over to me.

"What was that all about?" Roxas moved in front of me, trying to force me to look up at him. Zexion moved to stand next to me. I tried to dodge them, ducking in between them and moving with the crowds down the hallway. Roxas just moved to my other side and both of them walked down the hall with me.

"Yea what's his problem?" Zexion crossed his arms over his chest. He hated seeing anyone he cared about hurt, especially us. I didn't feel like my throat would manage to stop constricting ant allow me to form words, so I just shook my head and stayed silent, staring down at the dirty tiled floor.

"Come on Sora. I'm your twin for Cry-i." Roxas's voice was starting to get an annoyed tone to it. Not because of me, but because of Riku.

"I don't want to talk about it." I managed to whisper, my throat still dry and constricted. Roxas sighed loudly in annoyance.

"Fine. Don't tell me now. But I'm going to drag it out of you before the day is over." Roxas growled, breaking off as we passed the door to his sixth period. Zexion stayed silent during the remainder of our walk, but I could sense the waves of aggravation radiating from him too. Finally he too broke away, mounting the staircase as we passed it. I shuffled into science, sinking slowly into my seat, staring straight ahead. My mind was a jumble of what had just happened in the hallway.

I was still mulling over it on my way to my last period, French. _Why would Riku get so pissed at me? What made him mad in the first place, and why couldn't he tell me? _I was so focused on trying to solve the mystery that I didn't notice Marluxia approach me in his usual silent manner.

"I'm going to go get Cloud after school. You wanna come?" His voice startled me out of my deep thinking, causing me to flinch.

"What? Oh, no thanks. I'll just stay home I think." Even though I was eager to meet the infamous Cloud Strife, I didn't feel like meeting him when I was feeling like this. I was hoping that by the time Cloud did get to my house though, I would be over it or at least be able to pretend I was.

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**Axel-**

I hate being sick. At first, it didn't look like I was going to. Zexion and Marluxia both got sick and had to stay home earlier this week, despite the crap Mom gave us. I was fine, till yesterday. Mom said I had to stay home, because I officially had a cold. So now on a Friday afternoon while everyone else was contemplating their weekend plans and parties, I was sitting on my couch, staring down at a bowl of soup Mom had made me. It was chicken and dumpling, or so she said. The dumplings looked like uncooked mounds of dough that someone just decided to plop down in some perfectly good soup.

"I need to go run some errands. Will you be ok while I'm gone?" Mom shuffled into the room, pausing by the door to put her coat on and shift around in her purse for a chapstick.

"Yes Mother. I'll be perfectly fine." What did she think I was, five again?

"Alright sugar. The boys should be home soon, but, if I recall correctly, Marluxia is leaving straight after school to go get his friend, so he won't be home till dinner time" She leaned over the armrest of the couch to plant a kiss on top of my head before she picked up her purse again, straightened the folds on her jacket, and left. The minute I heard her car pull away I leaped off the couch, shuffling into the kitchen, and dumped the evil blobs of uncooked doughy goodness down the garbage disposal.

I returned to the living room, flopping down on the couch again, and started flipping through channels. There was absolutely nothing good on t.v. on a Friday afternoon. I finally gave up and let the t.v. rest at some court show called, The People's Court. The judge had medium length hair, and a quick temper, especially when someone cut her off when she was talking. In a way, it was entertaining to watch. But it didn't make time go any faster.

Lady approached me with an old tennis ball in her mouth. Looking at me hopefully she dropped the grimy ball in my lap and sat down patiently. I tossed the ball across the room, watching her practically trip over herself to get to it. She brought it back quickly, tossing the ball onto the couch next to me again. I threw the ball for her for what seemed like eternity until my ears picked up the sound of a car turning into the driveway. Less than a minute later Demyx had cranked the front door open, Roxas, Zexion, and a sullen looking Sora behind him.

"Thank God you're home!" I practically yelled. I swear my brain was about to melt from boredom.

"So what did I miss?" Demyx shuffled around in his bag before he pulled out my American History book. He must have gotten for me. Joy.

"We got this essay assignment thingy. About the Holocaust." He tossed the book to me. I groaned. I hated essays in American History. They were always long and boring, and I always ended up repeating things I had said earlier on in the essay, just in different words.

"Besides that, nothing real important." Demyx added, throwing himself onto one of the armchairs. Zexion sank into his usual spot in the big black recliner next to the bookcase. Sora practically sprinted up the stairs to his room, which was odd. Out of all of us he was the least likely one to want to be alone. He slammed his door, making the windows shudder slightly. Roxas sighed audibly, but didn't go after him.

"What's his damage?" I asked, confused by Sora's sour attitude.

"He and Riku got in a fight I guess. He won't tell any of us why though." Roxas pulled on the threadbare end of the leg on his jeans.

"Oh." What else could I say? I never have heard of a couple who doesn't fight at times.

"He'll be fine, eventually." Roxas stared straight ahead at the t.v. as the judge was yelling at the plaintiff for not bringing the police report.

"What the hell are you watching?" He asked, raising an eyebrow at me.

"The People's Court." I laughed. "You try finding something better."

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**Marluxia-**

It felt weird but kind of exciting to be back in my hometown. True, it's only an hour and a half away from my current place of residence, but I hadn't been here since I moved. I remembered my way around the streets perfectly still, considering there weren't a whole lot to remember. I had to pick up Cloud since his car was on the fritz again. I swear it breaks down every other weekend, and despite my efforts to convince him to just buy a new one. It's not like it would be much of a problem for his family to. They were loaded. His dad was a brain surgeon, and his mom co-owned some big business corporation.

I had to go passed my old house to get to Cloud's. Everything looked exactly the same as I remembered, but even worse. The old blue paint was still peeling, only more than since I had been there. The yard was overgrown with so many dandelions and other various weeds that mowing it now was a lost cause. The awning over the front porch looked like it was about to fall completely off. It was nothing compared to my current house. A jolt shot up my stomach, reminding me that I would most likely be living there again someday soon. Quickly I looked away.

Cloud all but jumped on me when I opened the front door to his house. I had known his family so long it was weird to ring the door bell. He backed away a step, smiling brightly. He, at least, looked the same as always, wearing a variety of dark navy blue and black clothing, his blonde hair shooting up in the same position as always. He grabbed a bag that was sitting on the floor near the door and followed me back to the car.

"Nice ride." He said, running his hand over the smooth black exterior. "Dodge Neon." He said in a matter of fact tone as he climbed into the passenger seat, throwing his bag into the back.

"So I've heard things about you." I said as we turned onto the highway to head back to my house.

"Like what?" Cloud answered as he fiddled around with the different stations on the XM radio.

"Well for one, your 'women' go to my school." Cloud looked up at me, smiling.

"Ah yes, Tifa and Aerith." His smile grew.

"They got in this huge fist fight on Monday over you." Cloud turned the radio down, his attention caught.

"Who won?" He inquired, leaning forward slightly.

"Tifa did." Cloud laughed, returning to his radio channel surfing.

"I figured that much. She could probably kick my ass if she really wanted to." He stopped switching through the different stations when he found one he liked.

"Well I'm pretty sure by now they know you're coming." Cloud sighed, leaning his head against the headrest. "I figured that might happen." He muttered, more to himself than to me.

"It's going to be an interesting weekend."

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**Roxas-**

"Come on Sora, don't shut me out." Sora rolled over on his bed so he was facing the wall and not me. When he hadn't emerged from his room for an hour after we got home, I caved in and went upstairs to him to talk him out of it.

"I can't really tell you because I don't really know myself." His voice was muffled from the pillow he was currently laying on.

"Well what did you do?" I attempted to crawl across the bed so I was in front of him again.

"I cared." His voice was dripping with heavy aggravation, which threw me off again. It was highly unusual for Sora to sound like that about anything.

"Just start at the beginning." Sora still didn't move to look at me, but started talking anyway, making me strain to hear him correctly.

"Riku was pretty much ignoring me and I tried to talk to him once and he shut me out, and then I couldn't find him until that time this afternoon, when he was yelling at me. All I wanted to know was what was wrong and he blew up on me. Why, I don't know. What I did, I don't know." He spoke quickly, his voice becoming so muffled near the end I could barely make out what he was saying.

"So Riku is all pissed about something. Fine, let him be pissed. It shouldn't make you any less than your usual self." Frankly, I was pissed myself, at Riku. I didn't care if Sora was five minutes older than me, I was still as protective over him as he was protective over me.

"It's not that easy." Sora finally rolled over so he was lying on his back, staring at the ceiling. At least I could understand him now.

"I know. But put it out of your mind, at least for tonight." If I could get him to forget about it now, maybe he would forget about it long enough for Riku to figure his own shit out and apologize to my brother. There was no way I was going to let Sora apologize to him, and I was determined to not let Riku spoil his mood.

"How?" Sora sighed, closing his eyes and furrowing his brow.

"Just, I don't know, think about something else. I'm sure enough will be going on this weekend that you can put it out of your mind for awhile. Riku will come around, I promise. You didn't do anything wrong so you don't need to fix anything." This was true. Sora hadn't done anything wrong, by what I could see.

"I…could try. I guess." Sora opened his eyes and turned his head to look at me.

"I'm positive you can leave him and all his petty little problems behind you for awhile." I smiled at him, hoping to get a smile in return.

"Alright." Sora smiled back at me, though it was neither big nor bright. But it was smile all the same.

"Now come on." I latched onto his hand and pulled him to his feet. "Marluxia and Cloud will be here soon."

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**Demyx-**

"So the Cloud Strife I hear about almost every day of my life is coming." Namine said. I could hear computer keys clicking over the phone.

"Yea. Do Tifa and Aerith know?" I had been talking to Namine for about half an hour now, enjoying the fact we didn't have awkward pauses.

"Yea. Aerith was practically flying around the room in art today, and Tifa was all hyped up about it in gym." I could hear Namine's little sister saying something in the background. "No, not now." Namine said to her. "Sorry, she's driving me insane!" I could hear the smile in her voice.

"It's ok. So are you going to go see your Dad tomorrow?" Namine's parents had divorced when she was in fourth grade, and usually went to go see her dad every other weekend. He lived in a town about thirty minutes away, so no one really saw or heard from her when she went to see him.

"Yea. But I'll have my cell with me, so I'll text you." She giggled before adding, "I would go crazy if I couldn't talk to someone."

"Oh really?" I couldn't help the smile that spread across my face at her giggle. Across the room sitting on the couch, Axel rolled his eyes.

"Yes. I get so lonely with just him and my step-mom. I just really want to talk to you when I'm there. Because you're my favorite." She giggled again. Actually, she giggled a lot, usually after every other sentence. But it's not like I minded.

"Aw, I want to talk to you too." I paused before adding, "And you're my favorite." Once again she giggled. I could hear her sister in the background again, asking what was so funny.

"Well I better go. Dinner is going to be ready in a few." The sound of her logging off her computer filled the background.

"I should probably go too." I really didn't want to.

"Alright. I'll text you tomorrow when I get to my dad's house tomorrow. Bye Demy." The smile on my face grew again.

"Bye Namine." She giggled one last time, before her phone clicked off. I pulled my cellphone away from my ear and flicked it closed, gazing up at the ceiling from my spot on the living room floor.

Axel sneezed. "You two are going to be the death of me." He mumbled as he routed around for a tissue.

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**Zexion-**

Sora had appeared on the staircase, followed by Roxas. It was a miracle. I never thought he would emerge from his room again.

"Zexion, sweetie, can you come help me?" Mom called from the kitchen. Sighing to myself I got up, placing my half-read book down on the coffee table and placing my disgruntled dog on the floor. She was almost getting too big to sit in the chair with me anymore.

"Could you make a salad please honey?" She was busy sprinkling something over half-baked pieces of chicken, before sliding the tray with them on it back into the oven.

"You're a life saver." She added as she passed me opening a bag of lettuce. I was probably the only one in the house who could make salad with out burning it or messing it up.

I had just returned to the living room when headlights played across the wall of the quickly darkening room. "Marluxia's home." Roxas stated, though I think we all figured that out already. The lights flicked off seconds before the sounds of shutting car doors and voices. One I recognized immediately as Marluxia. The other one must have been Cloud. A minute later they were in the house. Lady and Snicker Doodle immediately went into a frenzy, jumping up on the newcomer and running circles around him. Cloud was exactly how I pictured someone named Cloud would look like. Darker clothing, blonde hair, and tall and lanky. He was the same height as Axel, maybe even an inch or two taller.

Once introductions were made, we sat down to eat. The meal consisted of an almost steady stream of questions from Mom and Sora, who was starting to act like himself again. Mom's questions involved his family, school, past, etcetera. Sora's involved mostly Tifa and Aerith. Axel even snuck in a question or two.

"Let's go do something. I don't want to just sit here." Axel said after dinner, when he was pacing the living room in front of the t.v.

"Like?" I asked, even though I already had a hunch of what he was going to say.

"What we always do. Round up as many people as we can and go to the park."

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**I got so lazy near the end of this, or more like rushed. **

**Review if it does so please you so I have something to look forward to :-)**


	18. I Never Liked Mrs Peacock

**Forgive my lateness, as the day I traveled home I got sick. And sickness makes me lazy. I had like stomach flu sick for the day we came home, which sucked, and then somehow the by the amazing way colds spread, I got the same cold Roxas started. There are a couple parts in this story that involve stories out of my real live life, but I put them at the end so they don't take up a lot of space up here. oh and please also forgive the lack of Axel and Demyx pov's. For some unknown reason it took me over three hours to write this...so that's why they didn't appear.**

**Words: I got to use several words I love in this chapter such as: flummoxed, sprightly, quagmire, recumbent, betwixt, riven, etc. **

**Disclaimer: See Chapter 1**

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**Chapter 18**

_I never liked Mrs. Peacock_

**Sora-**

"I wish you would just turn that damn thing off." Roxas mumbled as my cellphone lit up my pocket for the third time since we had gotten to the park. I pulled it out and looked at it, the bright blue screen drowning out some of the darkness around us. Riku again. I knew it. A pang hit across my stomach. I wanted to answer it, but two things were keeping me from doing so. The first was Roxas, who was sitting next to me on top of the jungle gym as always. The other, I really couldn't explain. It was like my fingers could only push the ignore button instead of flipping it open.

I detested the happiness and normalcy surrounding me. Demyx was all over the place as usual, only much more bubbly, if that was even possible. Axel was, well Axel. Even Zexion seemed to be untroubled. I scowled, looking down at my shoes. The only other person who seemed to be in a bad mood was Roxas, but that was because I was in a bad mood and he was aggravated with the situation and with me.

My phone buzzed again, but when I glanced at it this time, it was a text message. Roxas pretended not to be interested as I flipped the phone open and read it.

_I wish you would talk to me. _

Roxas snorted. "Yea and I wish I could fly. Tell him to screw off. "I shot my twin a glare.

"Since when are you so hostile about everything?" I snapped back, turning my back to him and jumping off the jungle gym. Surprisingly my fingers moved to reply.

_Then come to the park. That's where everybody is._

Did I want to talk to him? I really didn't know. I did, I didn't want to fight with him anymore. But at the same time, I couldn't help but remember the conversation I had had with Roxas back at the house, before he turned into an ice princess as soon as we had gotten here. I waited as patiently as possible for my phone to vibrate again, but it didn't. I gave up and slid it back into my pocket, sitting down at the top of one of the slides. Axel, spun his was sprightly over to me, stopping to lean against the small rail that was above my head.

"What's wrong in Sora land?" He inquired, scanning the quiet park beyond the playground.

"Nothing Axel." I wanted to go home.

"It's never anything with you and your teenage boy hormones. One minute you're up, the next minute you're down. Personally I'm flummoxed by the whole thing." That caught me off guard. I backed up a bit from the slide, standing up so we were side by side so I could look him straight in the face.

"Since when do you use the word 'flummoxed?'" Axel just shrugged, not even bothering to look at me.

"I don't know. It just felt like a fitting word. Plus its fun to say. Like betwixt." He turned to me and smiled brightly.

"Betwixt? Flummoxed? I didn't even know you could say such words."

Axel raised his hands in defense. "Hey! I'm not stupid you know. I just choose to keep my intelligence at a normal human level and only use words like that when it's fitting to do so." He had a point. Axel was far from being dense.

"It's a quagmire that has several angles to it, but what it all comes down to is a simple lapse in communication and judgement and should be dealt with calmly and with no further aggravations, so you do not become like a group of politics, riven by dissent." Axel stated in his best professional scientist like voice.

"Ok now you're just being arrogant and showing off." I huffed. Axel smiled at me.

"It's amazing all what I know." He continued. "I have a knack for storing both useful and useless information like that."

"So where did you get 'like a group of politics, riven by dissent?'" Axel thought for a minute before answering.

"I think I got it off Word on the computer, when I searched what riven meant, and the sentence that it brought up was close to that. It seemed like a good time to use it anyway."

I stared at him for a minute longer before turning away. "You are so weird." I mumbled under my breath, but I had to admit, I did feel a little bit better.

"Boyfriend at ten o'clock!" He shouted suddenly, causing me to wince. Quickly he swung himself down and forward on the bar, disappearing a minute later as he propelled down the twisty slide. Not a second after he had left Riku appeared in his place. Instantly I turned my head away. All the feelings of the day were boiling up again just at the sight of him.

"…Hey." He whispered so soft I almost didn't catch it.

"Hi." I was determined not to let my shell break, to not be the first to start talking, and most importantly to not break down and start apologizing for basically doing nothing.

"So…how are you?" How am I? How did he think I was?  
"Fine." I didn't mean for my answer to be as curt as it was, but it's just how it came out. Out of the corner of my eye I saw Riku turn a little away, just like I had. He didn't speak again for the longest time, the heavy silence threatening to suffocate both of us. Everyone else seemed to be far away, even though I could feel Roxas's heated stare on us, and could Kairi and Olette giggling about something not far away from us.

He took a deep breath and started to speak again. "Look. I didn't mean to get all defensive at you earlier. I just had a lot on my mind and I didn't feel like being around anyone or having to deal with everything."

I felt heat start to rise up across my neck. "So you yelled at me, and humiliated me in front of half the school instead of just telling me that you had a lot on your mind?" I couldn't help the slice of anger I had started to feel. All the other emotions of the day and meshed together into one ball of anger and annoyance.

"I really wasn't thinking. I'm sorry." Riku's voice rose to meet the height of mine.

I felt the anger subside a little. "Yea, ok." What else was I supposed to say? I couldn't say sorry too, because I couldn't see anything to apologize for. I felt bad for feeling like that, but it was the truth.

"So…I feel really bad about it. I have since I left you in the hallway, but I figured you would be too mad at me to even think about talking to me, so I didn't look for you again." Riku continued, his voice now steady and calm as it usually was. "Sora?" He turned to look at me. I couldn't stand the feeling of his eyes on the back of my head, so I turned to look at him. The moment my eyes set fully on him for the first time that night I felt my anger immediately start to subside, just by the look of sincerity in his eyes.

"Do you forgive me?" He asked, his voice on the brink of sounding hopeful.

Cool relief washed over me, pushing the anger away completely.

"Yes, Riku. I forgive you."

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**Marluxia-**

"Oh Cloud!" I knew that voice. It was Tifa. But the tone she was using was unidentifiable to her. Her voice was at least two octaves higher than usual, and she drew out every syllable slightly longer than it should have been. Cloud hung his head a little and groaned.

"What?" I said, raising an eyebrow at him. "I thought Tifa was your favorite." He had informed me of this tidbit of information on the drive home earlier, not too long after he found out about Tifa and Aerith's fight.

"She is. But if Tifa knows I'm here, than Aerith probably knows I'm here too, and that means…" Cloud never got the chance to tell me what it meant, because a different voice cut him off, one that was naturally a big higher pitched.

"Cloud darling! I haven't seen you in forever!" I twisted my head to look behind me from my spot on a large rock we had been residing on. Aerith was making her way across the playground, several pairs of eyes flicking between her, Cloud, and Tifa, who was coming up the bottom of the grass hill near the tennis courts.

"You should have known this was going to happen." I told him, watching the two girls edge their way closer to us. Both of them were so focused on Cloud that they hadn't noticed each other.

"Cloud, why didn't you tell me you were friends with Marlu….what is she doing here?" Tifa cut herself off, her voice dropping down to its normal level, her tone going from sweeter than double chocolate ice cream, to dripping with venom. Aerith halted in her steps, narrowing her eyes, giving her a kind of evil snake appeal. Cloud groaned audibly again, leaning his head back against the tree behind us.

"What do I do?" He whispered, trying not to make eye contact with either of them.

"How the hell should I know? You're the 'lady's man'" Cloud shot me look, receiving only a smile in return. He was on his own.

"What's going on here?" Unlike Tifa, whose voice got lower with her anger, Aerith's voice rose when she was pissed off, getting higher and higher the angrier she got.

"How did you both know I was here anyway?" Cloud asked, avoiding both of their questions.

"It was all over school. As soon as I found out you were coming, I was so excited! I couldn't wait all day!" Aerith replied first, cutting of Tifa, who had just begun to talk. She closed most of the distance between her and our rock. I could have almost sworn Tifa's eyes glinted red. She rocked back on her heels, studying the long-haired girl cutting off her view of Cloud.

"But everyone knows I'm your one and only now. Aerith is old news." Aerith's eyes grew in size as Tifa pushed her out of the way. Before another fight could ensue, Cloud stood up from his place on the rock.

"Aerith, can I talk to you for a second?" He led her a few yards away from Tifa and me. Tifa watched them go, her expression close to murderous.

"I'm sure he's getting rid of her for good. Just letting her down easy. She's so sensitive she couldn't handle it if he kicked her to the curb in front of everybody else." At her words I glanced back over my shoulder at the playground. Almost every pair of eyes was set on our little troupe. Before Tifa could start becoming lethal again, Cloud returned, as Aerith simply walked away from the scene. I raised and eyebrow but Tifa laughed out loud in delight.

"I knew it!" She said, smoothing her hands over her hair and switching her gaze from the retreating girl's back to Cloud again. Before she could pounce on him Cloud turned to me, leaning forward so Tifa couldn't hear him.

"Get me out of here!" He whispered, glancing slightly over his shoulder as Tifa took it upon herself to approach him, sitting down on the rock on the place that he had recently vacated.

"So how did you give it to her? I hope you weren't too gentle." Tifa smiled swinging her legs back and forth.

"It was nothing important Tifa, I promise." He reassured her, returning her smile. He glanced at me quickly to indicate that he still wanted me to help him escape.

"Maybe we should head back to the house now." It was all I could think of, but obviously it worked. Tifa pretended to pout for a second before leaning up to plant a kiss on Cloud's cheek.

"Call me later." She whispered before releasing him. I pulled him away, to which he happily obliged. He was out of his dilemma of the moment, though I didn't doubt that it would happen again before he left. Everyone else didn't see much reason to stay either now that the big confrontation was over.

Demyx sprinted passed us. "I want to drive!" He yelled, sliding to a halt on the sand at the edge of the playground and climbing into the driver's seat of the Neon. Zexion took it upon himself to drive the other car. Roxas followed after him, Axel not far behind. Cloud and I followed after Demyx, Sora right behind us.

"What exactly did you tell Aerith?" I asked Cloud, once we were a safe distance away from the other cars as Demyx spun a backwards u to get out of the parking space.

"I told her that I would call her tomorrow and explain everything about Tifa and that she should go home before they got into it again." He kept his eyes fixed on the passing world outside the window.

"You're going to have to pick one of them sometime." I informed him, watching a group of elderly ladies at a stoplight look both ways about fifty times before finally starting to cross the street. They wasted so much time that the light changed before they had fully crossed the street, causing all the traffic to have to wait at the green light.

"Yea I know. But I don't plan to until I get back home." He turned to look at me, just as we turned onto a quiet neighborhood street that branched off of ours.

"Holy shit, look out!" I didn't have much time to try to figure out why Sora was yelling out cuss words when I slid forward into the back of the seat driver's seat in front of me as Demyx hit the brakes hard. A second later there was a loud thunk sound from the hood before Demyx slowed to a stop.

"What happened?" Cloud said, just as oblivious as I was.

"I think we hit a deer." Sora said, rolling down his window and sticking his head into the cool night air, searching the night around us for signs of a deer body.

"Do you see it?" Demyx whispered. I could tell he was slightly disarrayed about it, but you couldn't really blame him for being so.

"No. But I think it went up farther after we hit it." Sora yanked his head back into the car, flipping open his cell phone.

"I'll call the police or whatever, you call Mom." He said, putting the phone up to his ear, light blue lighting up half of his face. Demyx waited until Sora hung up before opening his own phone and pushing five, the speed dial number for the house.

"Hey Mom. You'll never guess what happened."

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**Zexion-**

"Come on boys, we need to go." Mom bustled passed us in a frenzy, pulling on one of her many colored sweaters. We had barely stepped in the door.

"Why?" Axel asked, watching her search through the living room for her car keys.

"Because Demyx hit a deer." She answered hurriedly, locating her keys and shuffling us back out the door before any of us could protest. We all piled into her suburban, tackily named "Big Bertha." Who named it that, I have no clue. It's been called that way before I even moved here.

"Where at?" Roxas asked, hanging his head out the open window, creating the image of a small golden haired puppy. Ever since we had left the park and it had been obvious Riku and Sora were no longer fighting, he had stopped being so negative.

"Oh only about two streets away." Her voice sounded frenzied, but I couldn't figure out why. If Demyx had called her from the car, obviously no one was hurt or anything.

Her word rang true though, when she pulled up on the street exactly two down from ours. Hurriedly she pushed the window button, giving Roxas barely enough time to pull his head back in. The minute the windows were up she yanked the keys out of the ignition and practically flew out of the car. Axel, Roxas and I lagged behind her, walking at a much slower pace on the side of the road. We had almost reached the Neon and the police car when I took the initiative to look down as my foot knocked up against something hard. Looking down I discovered the doe that I assumed was currently MIA. It was sprawled out in front of me, as if it was still in mid run. Its huge unblinking eyes stared up at me, a large gash just below its middle. It was also missing a back leg. My foot had brushed up against its skull.

I couldn't help the look of disgust that crossed my face as I took a couple involuntary steps backwards. It was one thing to hear about or even imagine a freshly dead deer, but it was an entirely different experience to come across one. It was just one of the many things my biological father's list of loathing and repulsive things about me, I didn't like the sight of death and how messy it was no matter what organism it involved, ergo the main reason I hated hunting. He always loved hunting, but the mere idea of going to spend a week in the untamed wilderness just to sit in one spot for hours on end waiting for the perfect deer and usually ending up without it was revolting to me.

Axel came up behind me, looking down at the mass of once living life. "I think we found the culprit!" He sang out in the direction of the police car and the Neon, where Mom was hugging Demyx to her, stroking his hair and telling him it was fine and that he wasn't in any trouble what so ever, though Demyx seemed a lot calmer than she. He just looked a little frazzled, but not even close to hysterics. Marluxia, Sora, and Cloud were off the side of the road too, sitting on a recumbent tree trunk by the edge of someone's backyard fence.

One of the two police officers broke away from the small troupe and walked over to join us. I took a couple more steps back, stepping up onto the asphalt of the street. Roxas was quick to follow me, but Axel only moved a few feet back so the police officer could get closer to the deer.

"Yup, she's gone alright." He pulled a pair of latex gloves out of his pocket and slipped them on before leaning to examine the deer closer. "Looks like she was old and on the sick side anyway." He confirmed when he straightened back up again. We strayed after him back to the rest of the group as he moved away to inform his partner. Mom had finally released Demyx, who had happily trudged his way over to the decaying tree trunk.

"Did you find it?" Sora asked, watching the traffic go by slowly, eager passengers and curious drivers, peering out their windows accusingly.

"Not by choice, but yes." I replied, watching a middle-aged man point excitedly at the police car as if it was a runaway circus elephant.

"How long is this going to take?" Demyx moaned, bringing his hands up to his temples. "I just want to go home and take some Excedrin and go to bed." I didn't blame him for wanting to do so. I felt the same, and I hadn't even been in the car. A growing roll of thunder broke over the no longer quiet night, getting louder the longer it carried on. Just as it was ending a large raindrop splashed down on my head. Several rain drops followed after it, pelting not only me, but everyone else. Roxas, the only one who had enough brains to have a hoodie on, reached back and pulled the hood up to stop the invading rain from pounding down on his head.

"Wow this is exceedingly pleasing." I muttered, ducking my head as best as I could from the intruding water. I hadn't fully recovered from my cold just yet, and neither had Axel, whose cough was quickly drowned out by another round of thunder.

"Come on boys, let's go home!" Mom called as the police officers headed back to their patrol car, ducking inside to escape the rain. Axel, Roxas and I started our small hike back to Mom's car, moving faster than we had on our way down. Demyx didn't want to drive the rest of the way home in the now slightly damaged car, so Marluxia was the one who got in the driver's seat

"All these thunderstorms are causing so much trouble! I hope it doesn't knock the power out." Since our last big power outage when she was gone, the power had gone out twice, but only for ten or fifteen minutes each. Personally, I wasn't looking forward to another possible power outage, as last time I had ended up on the floor.

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**Roxas-**

As soon as we got home I rushed up the stairs to make sure my window was shut. Fortunately this time it was, all my belongings neat and dry, safe for once against the howling storm outside. I couldn't understand where all thunderstorms were coming from. We usually didn't get so many, especially this late in the year. I exited my room, grabbing a dark red hoodie on my way out the door, and pulled it over my head on my way down the hallway. Only one small light was on in the living room, and everyone was huddled around in the middle of the floor.

"What are we all doing?" I asked, searching quickly around the room for any sign of Mother.

"Mom wants us to play a game." Axel sniffed, trying to hold back a sneeze. Not twenty seconds after Axel had spoke, Mom reappeared in the living room, setting down a box in the middle of us.

"Clue!" She sounded generally please with herself, as if she had just discovered fire. We all looked up at her, slightly dumbfounded.

"I haven't played Clue in years." Sora said. He was right. We hadn't seen a clue board since we were nine.

"Well I'm sure you remember how to. Its like learning how to ride a bike, you never forget!" She sat down on the edge of our circle as Demyx started to pull the board and cards out of the box. Cloud said he just wanted to watch us and joined Mom on the sidelines, evidently amused when Mom started picking out which character she wanted each of us to be.

**two hours later **

"It was you oh so innocent peacock!" Axel yelled, pointing an accusing finger across the board at Marluxia, who smirked back at him.

"You really think so?" Once we had gotten five minutes into the game we learned another small tidbit about Marluxia. He was a hell of a Clue player. He had solved the first game in fifteen minutes with only making two guesses before figuring it out.

"Yes. I do. It was you…" Axel paused to pick up the blue pawn and set it in the little in box next to his red one. "…in the library with the candlestick!" He picked up the little gold piece and set it in the room also. Demyx, who was sitting next to him, slid a card out of his small section of the deck, pushing it facedown to him. Axel picked it up, scowled, and returned it to Demyx, who then rolled the dice and moved his little yellow piece off the small yellow boxes and into the conservatory.

"I think it was…" He stared down at his little paper. "Professor Plum…with the rope in the conservatory." He moved Zexion's purple piece into the box with him. Sora passed him a card to contradict his statement.

"Dang, I thought I had it that time." He sighed, marking something off on his paper. It was my turn. I rolled the dice and moved my piece into the closest room, the billiard room. I studied my own evidence paper. It couldn't be Mrs. Peacock, no matter how much Axel thought it was. It wasn't Colonel Mustard (Demyx) or Mr. Green (Sora), and it defiantly wasn't Prof. Plum, whose card I held in my hand. I already knew which weapon it was, the lead pipe. Most of my cards had been weapons, and when ever someone passed me a card it had been a weapon card. I had three rooms left, but the billiard room had been the closest, and seemed the most likely since no one had guessed it yet.

"I say it was in the billiard room with the lead pipe…and it was…" It had to either be Axel, Miss Scarlet, or me, Mrs. White. "…it was me." I looked to Marluxia next to me, who shuffled through his cards and shook his head. Sora next to him was empty handed too, as was every one else.

"Open the little envelope." Sora said, absentmindedly spinning his little green pawn on its head. I took the envelope from the middle, sliding the hook open and pulling the three shiny cards out. It had been me, with the lead pipe, in the billiard room.

"Yes!" I shouted gleefully, tossing the cards down in the middle of the board. We had played a total of five games, and this was the first one I had won. Marluxia had won three, and Zexion had won the second game we played. Cloud started laughing at the slightly stunned look on Axel's face.

"I could have sworn it was the damn peacock this time." He muttered, placing his own deck of cards down on the board. Everyone else followed suit. Sora, obviously exhausted from his emotional roller coaster of the day was beating up the little Colonel Mustard with the wrench.

"I think its bed time." Mom said, standing up from her place on the floor. Dancing across the room seemed to have drained the last of my energy, and instantly the feelings of sleepiness hit me.

"I'll beat you all sometime!" Axel declared as he headed up the stairs to his bedroom.

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**So the hitting the deer part comes from two incidents that happened during my travels this summer. The first comes from way back in the middle of June, when my friend's mom hit an antelope when we were a mile out of town, and its leg flew off. It was pretty nasty. And, obviously, it died on the side of the road. The second comes from when I was in Texas, and we were driving back to our rented house one night. I was sitting in the back with my sister and her boyfriend, Kevin, talking about random stuff like baby names. Out of nowhere Kevin yells, "Holy Shit, look out!" and a deer ran in front of us. We only bumped it though, so no damage was done to either the car or the deer that time, just him yelling that was one of the funniest things ever. You would have had to have been there to hear it, but it was hilarious. **

**The version of Clue they are playing is one of the older versions before they made a version which the pawns looked like people. I didn't even know that version existed until I was writing this chapter and had to look up character names in the game to see if I had them all correct. So the version the boys are playing is the one where the pawns are just solid color little pieces, like the version I have. **

**And also one time I was playing Clue with my family and it was really late and the little Colonel Mustard piece fell victim to my small lead pipe of doom. **

**...I really want to play Clue now...and I really want a freaking thunderstorm already! It only thunderstorms when I'm gone :-)**

**Anyway review if it does so please you to do so. **


	19. Paint Bubbles

**So here it is, the chapter that took way to long to write. Euh so much as been going on, but none of it is really worth telling. Mostly two a days tennis practice though has been eating up my time...and my laziness as well. I have thought of an ending for this story though, which I will probably throw in, in about...two chapters. La de da de da. The end is near!!!! **

**I think the most exciting story I have to tell is that my friend was dog sitting her friend's dogs, and she had a puppy named Roxy, who I was holding and I accidently called her Roxas...**

**Dedication: I went through a whole bunch of my old reviews and found two from forgottenmelodies. Which were the painting, the interogation, and the interview...so three ideas. **

**Disclaimer: See Chapter One**

**I got lazy at the end...meh**

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**Chapter 19**

_Paint Bubbles_

**Marluxia-**

"So any decisions yet?" I turned down the radio so I could hear his answer better. We had gotten up early today so I could drive him back home and still get back to the house by nine. Mom said she had a "special" job for us, though she had refused to tell any of us what it was. Cloud didn't look at me, only kept staring straight out the window. I despised when he got like this, all angsty and moody.

Finally he answered me. "I don't know. I think I might just call it off with both of them. There is no point in it really." He sighed and turned away from the window, repositioning so he was looking straight out the windshield.

"Oh?" I turned my head, raising an eyebrow at him.

"Yea, I'm just not feeling up to it anymore. I think I'll just call them both and tell them when I get home. Then I will be free." His eyes lit up a little at his last sentence. Silently, I agreed with him. There really was no sense in "dating" two girls at once, especially two you hardly even see anyway. Cloud sighed again, leaning his head back in an almost content manner, as if voicing his thoughts had lifted a load off of his chest. He reached over and turned the radio back up, still gazing straight ahead out of the window. I looked away again. He wasn't going to say much more on the matter to me anyway. On either side of the highway cows were marching out in single file lines to go graze for the day. Some however had already beaten them out there in the early morning sun and had spread out to find their own personal patch of slowly dying grass. Very few other cars were on the highway; most of them heading the other direction towards the city and out of the small town, if you could even call it that. Familiar billboards and road signs soon began to appear on both sides of the road, long wooden poles jutting out of the roadside weeds, advertising well known slightly run-down fast food restaurants and gas stops.

Once again driving through town I had to pass my old house to get to Cloud's. I glanced over his shoulder at it quickly as we passed, but Cloud didn't even give it a small glance. Whether because he was used to it as it had become just a part of the scenery over the years, or because he was trying to prove a point that he didn't care what it looked like, I couldn't tell. It looked the same as it had on Friday, only more dismal in the brighter sunlight. Quickly I followed Cloud's example and looked away, trying my best to hide the fact that the sight of the house was twisting a knot into my stomach. It was still hard to swallow the fact that I was most likely to go back to that house before my senior year of highschool was over.

"I'll text or call you later Mar." Cloud's voice brought me back to reality. Even though I had been lost heavily in my thoughts my internal instincts had still brought us to his house. He half-smiled as he stepped out of the car, throwing the door behind me as he trudged across his front yard, still wet with morning dew.

I took the long way out of town, so I didn't have to pass by my house again.

"Good morning!" Mom called as I stepped back into the familiar and comforting house that felt so much like a permanent home to me. Lady came skittering out of the kitchen, sliding slightly across the shiny, wooden floor and thru the propped open kitchen door. She padded quickly across the living room, sitting down in front of me and licking my hand, trying to get me to pet her. Smiling softly I got down on my knees, scratching behind both of her ears at once. I felt a rush of déjà vu of my very first night here, when Lady had met me at the bottom of the stairs and sat down in front of me, looking up at me with her big brown eyes, just as she was doing now. A hard feeling hit my stomach as I thought back to the image of my old house. I could still remember the feelings I usually had when I walked through that front door. Everything was always a disaster, Lizzie usually holed up alone in her room. I wanted everything to be clean all the time, deep down hoping that cleanliness would provoke more of a feeling of home. But it never did. I cooked dinner ninety nine percent of the time, doing homework while something simmered or water boiled. Lizzie would appear, planting herself in front of the television, yelling into the kitchen, asking if dinner was ready or not. On the rare special occasion my mother would appear, gliding down the stairs and sitting down stiffly at the kitchen table, her hair looking like a tornado had swirled around through it. But even then she would hardly eat any of it and would disappear again just a few minutes after she had sat down. Most of the time though, I would bring her a plate of food up to her room, watching her stumble on in her attempts to get up to receive the plate.

"Breakfast is ready." I looked up to discover Mom standing behind Lady, gazing down at me with a cheery smile plastered across her face. I got back up to my feet, following her towards the kitchen again. This house was much more homely than my biological mother's house. It was clean, but with a few things scattered here and there. Books, random papers, dvd cases and a lone drinking glass half way filled with water were spread out against the coffee tables. Demyx's guitar was leaning against one of the walls, and one of Zexion's sketch books was lying on the floor. The objects left sitting in random places like that gave the house a family appeal. If anyone was to walk in the door at this very moment, they would be able to tell the living room of this house was usually always occupied by a person or two, and that the threshold was hardly silent. But that's how a house should be, isn't it?

Everyone else was already in the dining room when Mom and I entered. "So what is it that you're so excited for us to do today?" Axel asked as we sat down, spinning a spoon around in the fresh glass of ice tea in front of him. Mom's smile grew wider.

"I want all of you to paint the den downstairs. I already have the paint and everything down there, and with all six of you it shouldn't take that long at all!" She said with gusto, looking down right pleased with herself.

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**Axel-**

"Since when did the den need painted?" I raised an eyebrow at Mom sitting across from me, only to have my look returned with another large smile.

"Since I grew tired of the old yellowy color it's been since I moved into this house, and I know for a fact that I'm not the only one who finds it slightly nauseating." She had a point. I personally wasn't fond of the yellowness that invaded the large den that took up most of the basement.

"What color?" Demyx piped up from next to me.

"Pale minty green and light blue, alternating which color each wall is. Oh and the trim lavender. It will pretty, don't you think?"

"Just beautiful." I replied, downing the last dregs of tea in my glass. Zexion wasn't looking all that pleased. I knew what he was thinking. Painting with the other five of us would no doubt be messy, and all of us would end up with paint streaks on us. Zexion didn't like getting dirty and messy like that. Why, I really had no idea.

"You better go get started." Mom had stood up and had begun swiping plates from beneath our noses. "Go on, shoo." She practically pushed us through the dining room and kitchen, abandoning us in the living room.

After all of us had gone to our rooms and changed, we trudged down the stairs to the basement. Demyx flicked on the light switch as we reached the bottom. Mom had set out several sets of paintbrushes and plastic covers, along with five paint buckets. Two green, two blue, and one purple. We huddled at the bottom of the staircase, gazing around the almost solemn space. Now that I was standing in it, it really did need a new coat of paint, in a different color. Demyx flounced across the room, snatching up one of the large plastic tarps. After a few seconds the rest of us trailed after him. Without much speaking Marluxia and I shoved one of the couches away from the wall and Zexion and Sora moved the other one. It took all six of us to move the television stand, computer desk, and piano. The bookshelves were somewhat easy to move, aside from the fact books kept falling off the shelves with every slightest movement.

"Ow!" Roxas howled as a runaway book came down from a top shelf, its spine hitting the top of his head. His hands immediately shot to the spot, a sour look crossing his face. Sora burst into loud laughter at his twin's expense. He sidled up next to him to pick up the book and put it back in its proper place. Roxas growled at him, inching away from the bookcase in case any other pieces of literature decided to attack.

The room quieted down again. Up until Roxas's yelp, no one had said much to anyone else except for an occasional grunt or a simple word like, "ok" and "here". I guess Zexion wasn't the only who wasn't pleased about painting on a Sunday.

"Oh come on, what's eating all of you?" Demyx spun around in the middle of the room, lying a tarp down next to a wall on the floor and smoothing it out before retrieving another and flipping it over the piano.

"The fact that I'm painting a basement on a Sunday." Roxas grumbled, still massaging his head. Demyx sighed audibly as he covered that last piece of furniture and wandered over to watch Zexion struggle to open a paint can. Finally it popped open, light blue specks appearing across Zexion's arm. He growled when he noticed them, but by then they had dried and were stuck to his skin. Seeing that he wasn't going to open any of the other cans, I stepped up to do it myself. The purple can opened easily with out as much as a sliver of movement in the paint. The green, however, took more convincing to open. When it finally did the lid slid out of my hands and onto the surrounding newspaper, specks flicking over myself as well as Marluxia, who was sitting next to me. Any attempt to get it off just smeared it worse, so I just left it alone. I was going to get even more covered anyway.

"Well I guess we should…start then…" Sora retrieved one of the smaller paintbrushes, dipping it down halfway in the purple and wandering over to the nearest wall. Demyx followed after him, repeating his actions and climbing up the step ladder to paint the trim along the wall. The rest of us sat still on the floor, watching them in an almost complacent manner.

"Oh come on don't be so lethargic." Sora complained after we had sat on the floor and watched them for almost a full five minutes. He stood up from the floor and picked up a clean brush from the stack, throwing it at his twin. Roxas shot up a hand to block it before shooting Sora a glare. He got up anyway, Marluxia, Zexion, and I reluctantly followed suit, and retrieved paintbrushes. We all started on the trim, since it had to be done first anyway. We painted in silence for a bit, listening to the sound of the bristles smoothing over the once yellow trim. The silence didn't last long when Demyx leaned back on the step ladder, losing his balance and dropping the paintbrush he had been using. Zexion attempted to move out of the way of the falling paintbrush, but it caught the majority of his hair that hung over his face.

"Ah Demyx!" Zexion yelled, shaking his head and sending paint specks flying everywhere. Demyx got down from the ladder and stood halfway turned away from Zexion, his head bent down like he was a frightened puppy. Fortunately for Demyx, Zexion was a man of few words, especially when he was angry. He shot him a death glare before stopping over to a different wall.

The tension in the silent air only seemed to thicken as we finally finished the trim and started on the actual walls. Zexion still kept at least a wall away from Demyx, where he claimed he would be "safer." Demyx blushed even more, keeping his head low.

"You're doing that wrong." The critical voice came from my right. I turned to find a spiky blonde head next to me. At first I was mildly surprised. Roxas and I were usually the two that got along the best. But something in his tone set me off in the wrong direction.

"Oh and just how is it done, your royal Paintness?" I could hear the sharp edge on my voice. Everyone else must have too, because suddenly the room was silent, the soft sound of moving bristles vanishing.

"Like this, smart ass." Roxas snatched the roller from my hand and brought it roughly over the wall, in a diagonal in contrast in my almost perfectly straight lines. He quickly constructed a blue square next to mine. They looked exactly the same.

"Well everyone has their own styles and methods. Mine just happens to be different than yours." I bit back, reaching my free hand that wasn't latched onto the can of sky blue paint.

Roxas tightened his grip. "But this way will go faster." He narrowed his eyes at me.

"Than go do your "faster, better, simpler way over there!" My voice rose with me meaning for it to.

"No! You're doing it too perfectly and slow and its bugging me!" Roxas voice rose to match mine. We each started to tug hard on the roller. I could feel slimy paint started to run down my other arm.

"Well excuse me for trying to make it just a little bit neater looking!" Roxas growled and attempted to wrench my hand off the handle by ducking under my arm. I swung around quickly, following his movements. I only had a few seconds to smirk at him before there was a loud yelp behind me. The paint can caught on something harder, throwing me off balance and causing me to drop both the can and the roller handle. Everything seemed to happen in slow motion as a fell down on my side, paint sloppily splattering me and the floor. Moaning I rolled over to figure out what the can had hit. Marluxia was sprawled out next to me, his head in his hands and blue paint gooping up his hair and running down across his back and face.

"Look what you made me do!" I spun around to face Roxas, who was looking down at us both, the roller held loosely between his fingers. The look of worry on his face instantly screwed up to anger at my yell.

"Me? You should have just let got of the stupid roller!" We were practically screaming at each other now. Glares of almost pure hatred were plastered across both of our faces as hurried footsteps came down the stairs. Mom appeared at the bottom of the staircase hurrying across past the laundry room towards us.

"What is going on here?" Her voice was a sharp as a jagged piece of glass. Roxas and I looked away from each other. It wasn't often that Mom yelled. She took in the scene in front of her, a look of worry crossing her face as she spotted Marluxia on the floor, who was still holding onto his head. She weaved her way through our mess of already used paintbrushes and halfway empty paint cans.

"What happened?" Her voice had softened, but only a fraction as she made Marluxia drop his hands and lifted his head.

"Well…I kinda…whaled Marluxia in the head with a…paint can." My voice lost volume the farther I got into my explanation, almost dying out as I reached the end. The feeling in the room was almost suffocating.

"Why!?" She tried to run her hand through his hair, but her fingers got caught in the mess of tangles the paint was steadily creating.

"Because we were fighting of a paint roller, and I ducked passed him and he spun around to face me again and…" Roxas didn't finish his sentence, but Mom already figured it out. She glanced across the group of us again and spotted Zexion.

"And what happened to you?" Zexion's hand shot to his hair, as if he had almost forgotten about the lavender paint there.

"I accidentally dropped a paintbrush on him." Demyx piped up, his voice soft and almost fragile sounding. Mom sighed and shook her head. The rest of us stood silent, waiting for what she was going to do.

"Come on Marluxia, Zexion. Let's go get the paint out of your hair." She turned to the rest of us. "Do you think you four can finish without fighting or any more mishaps?" We nodded our head in unison. Zexion practically shot up the staircase. It was obvious he wasn't the least bit torn up about having to leave the little painting session. Marluxia followed after him at a slower pace, attempting to keep paint from dripping down in his eyes.

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**Roxas-**

As soon as the troupe had disappeared up the stairs, Axel stomped away from me, shooting me an annoyed leer. Fine, let him be hot headed. All I had done was try to make it easier so we could finish faster. I stomped away from him too, going to the wall he wasn't at. We only had two walls left, of which both were about halfway done, so we teamed up. Demyx wandered over to join me on the green wall.

"Why can't we do anything productive together without messing it up?" He asked me softly. His eyes were pinned ahead on the wall, but I sense the truth that rang in his words.

"I don't know. We are just a dysfunctional group I guess." I drew to roller in a semi-straight line all the way down to the floor.

"Maybe. But when it's not something that's work, we usually do just fine together. So what's the difference? Its like as soon as Mom says the word 'chore' or the phrase 'work together' we fall apart and get all mad and tense at each other for no reason at all. And then it's all downhill from there." Our rollers were close to touching. The wall was almost done. I thought silently about what he had said. I had never thought of it that way, but it was the cold harsh truth. We hadn't completed a project as a group together in peace once. Not once.

"It's not worth it." Demyx continued, finally turning his head to look at me.

"What's not worth it?" I returned his soft look with a confused one.

He sighed heavily. "The fighting, the disagreements. Someone is always pissed off at someone else, and it's just frustrating and just not worth it."

"You're right." He was. Now that he had voiced it, I realized I hated the fighting just as much as he and everyone else probably did. And it wasn't worth it. Our rollers touched together. I stepped back, examining the wall. Perfect. Nice even coating. I glanced over at Sora and Axel, who had about one or two strokes left. I couldn't talk to Axel now, he would turn stubborn like he usually did when he was mad and ignore me, but I would defiantly confront him later…and apologize.

A ruffling behind me brought me back to reality. Demyx had gathered the tarps in the middle of the floor together in a bundle, but was leaving the ones near the wall down, just in case. He left the ones over the furniture too. Axel was sitting on the floor replacing paint can lids over their proper homes and throwing the used brushes and rollers in a bucket of hot water Sora must have gone and filled up. Feeling slightly guilty that I wasn't helping, I wandered over and slid the step ladder back together and stored it under the staircase. I wandered back into the den and collected paint stirrers. I picked up the one next to Axel, hoping he would look up at me. He didn't. Mentally I sighed. He hadn't cooled off at all and probably was stilling blaming me about whacking Marluxia in the head with the paint can.

"I think that's everything." Sora commented, straightening up and looking around the room. Demyx flounced passed, beating everyone to and up the stairs. I quickly followed after him, Axel bringing up the rear behind Sora.

The living room seemed much more homely than the den had. The t.v. was on, and I could smell Mom's favorite waterfall candle. I spotted it on the coffee table between the two white chairs, of which the one closest to the front door was currently occupied by Marluxia. Lucky for him he had managed to get all of the paint out of his now still damp hair, and was holding a bag of frozen peas to his head, looking slightly sour. Zexion, for once, wasn't sitting in his recliner but was lying on his stomach on the floor, drawing. I flopped down on the floor in front of Marluxia's chair, looking up at him. Thankfully, unlike Axel earlier, he looked down to meet my gaze. I smiled brightly up at him.

"Sorry Marlu. I seriously didn't think that would happen." I muttered, finding it hard myself to stare straight up at him during my apology.

"It's fine." He mumbled back. His tone of voice indicated that he wasn't really all that hyped up about it. I smiled again at him before getting up and heading upstairs to take a shower.

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**Demyx-**

_Hmmm. Now why would the doorbell be ringing now? _I weaved my way towards the front door, dodging the cat as she rubbed passed me. We had finished dinner about a half hour ago, and normally no one would show up after then. So imagine my surprise when I opened the door to discover Namine and Riku standing on the doorstep, Namine giving me that bright smile of hers.

"Hey Demy." She said as she and Riku pushed passed me into the living room. I felt a look of confusion pass over my face. Why would they be here now?

"Riku?" Sora had appeared on the top of the stairs and was now looking down on the scene. Apparently he had no idea what was going on either. Before either of us could ask for an explanation Mom bustled out of the kitchen.

"Oh there you two are! Right on time! That'll earn you brownie points." She practically pulled them into the kitchen.

"Mom? What's going on?" Sora descended the staircase and started to trail after them into the kitchen. Quickly I followed after him. Mom pushed them into the kitchen and turned to face us.

"You two aren't allowed to come in here for awhile." She giggled. Sora and I exchanged a quick glance.

"Well why not?" I practically whined. None of this was making any sense at all.

"Weeeeellll…ok I guess you two can, but only if you promise not to say or do anything during the entire thing." She swung through the kitchen door, leaving Sora and I to hurry in after her.

Riku and Namine were seated at the kitchen table, with lit candles in the middle of it. Mom insisted that Sora and I stand back against the stove. She flicked the lights off and sat across from Namine and Riku.

"So I guess you both know why I asked you to come here today." She placed both hands on the table. My stomach dropped. I didn't have a good feeling about where this was going.

Leaning forward her voice dropped a little. "So we will start with this. What exactly are your intentions with my sons?"

"Huh?" Riku blurted out, looking dumbfounded. Namine shook her head as if she didn't understand.

"Moooom!" Sora groaned, closing his eyes and groaning loudly.

"Shhh!" She waved a hand behind her back at us before continuing. "We'll start with you Riku. What are your exact intentions with Sora?" Riku leaned back in his chair a little.

"Well….I don't know exactly how to answer that….I guess…" His eyes cast downward as he let his sentence fade and eventually die off.

"You guess what?" Mom replied, her voice steady and even. Namine glanced nervously passed her at me. I tried to give her an encouraging smile, but I don't think she could pick it up in the candle light.

"Well…I've liked Sora for awhile and I guess my intentions are to…be a good…boyfriend?" Riku stuttered through his sentence, refusing to make eye contact with her.

"A fair answer, though not a spectacular one." Mom's eyes shifted to land heavily on Namine. "And what are you're intentions?"

"I don't know if I have any 'intentions' I'm just going with the flow of things I guess and see where they takes us." She spoke quickly, having had time to think about her answer. Mom leaned back a little, as if satisfied.

"Good very good." She proceeded to ask even more random and difficult questions like, when did you learn to ride a bike, exactly how big their family tree was, what their favorite kind of bird was, and if they had every been pregnant or given birth. All these questions earned heavy moans and several repeat statements of "Moooom!" Which were always answered with a quick flick of her wrist.

After a good twenty minutes she stood up and smiled as she flicked on the lights again. "Good, you both passed!" She smiled, looking like her usual self.

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**Zexion-**

Namine and Riku shuffled quickly out of the kitchen door and out the front door, Sora and Demyx following after them onto the porch. Mom emerged shortly after, a huge smile plastered across her face.

"What was that all about?" I looked up from my book to watch her. She giggled to herself as she crossed over to Marluxia to hand him a different bag of frozen produce.

"Oh nothing. Just wanted to give the newbies a little scare is all. I was only kidding around I like them both." She peeked out the blinds onto the front porch.

"You did that interrogation thing, didn't you?" A smirk started to cross over Axel's face.

"Yup, of course I did! It's one of my favorite things to mess around with people like that." All of us started to laugh as she crossed the living room again on down the hallway towards her bedroom when the phone rang.

"Could someone get that please?" She called, the light in her room suddenly illuminating the door hallway. I reached over onto the coffee table and picked up the receiver.

"Hello! This is Stacey Springsteen, news anchor on channel twelve! To whom am I speaking?" The lady's high chirpy voice had cut me off before I had even gotten a hello out.

"Um…Zexion?" Stacey Springsteen. I had to think on it a little before it dawned on me who it was. That over the top bubbly news reporter with the fake blonde hair.

"Well Zexion our news team has caught wind of your happy abode and would like to come interview you all tomorrow evening!" Why did she sound like she had to get all her happy in before the world ended?

"Oh. Ok….sure…." What did she want me to say anyway?

"Fantastic! May I speak to the head of the household please?" Head of the household? Oh, Mom. She had just reappeared and was looking at me with a slightly raised eyebrow as I hoisted myself out of my chair and trudged over to hand her the phone.

I knew what she would say. She would let that news team come to our house and do all their filming and interviewing and asking really obvious questions.

I wasn't looking forward to meeting that lady.

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**Review if it does so please you to do so :-)**


	20. How Far We've Come

**Ahh I've been writing this all day. Well not all day, per say, I stopped here and there, but for the majority of the day I wrote this. So enjoy it. After this chapter is an epilogue, and then...sniff sniff its over!! Ahhh! Which is weird...considering I've never finished a story before and this story has been my baby for a long time now. Sad. I shall miss this story mucho. I've been extremly busy with school starting and tennis matches, and then tennis matches getting me behind in school and ahhhhhhhhhhhhhhh. Le sigh I'll be fine. Also the chapter is named what it is because that's the song I was listening to for the majority of this chapter and I couldn't think of a better one.**

**Disclaimer: see chapter 1**

**Dedication: for the last time ever in this story, forgottenmelodies, who stuck with the boys until the very end and practically wrote half this story by herself. **

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**Chapter 20**

_Let's see how far we've come_

**Axel-**

"Wake up! Wake up wake up wake up!" Ugh. Not now. Too tired.

"Aw come on Axel get up already! Everyone else is already up!" Demyx hopped around on my bed on his knees before flopping down next to me.

"No." I buried my head deeper into my pillow.

"...please?" I could feel his body weight shift as he inched closer to me.

"NO!!" Demyx huffed loudly at me, sitting up on my bed.

"Well screw you too. And out of everyone I thought you would be the one to like this holiday the most." He paused, as if he was contemplating something before adding, "Everyone else is happy about it."

"What holiday?" I shifted my head slightly to glare up at him. I fought the urge to close my eyes again at the bright sunlight invading my room. Demyx was smiling widely down at me.

"Oh come on, everyone knows this holiday!" He spread his arms wide above his head, as if this was going to emphasize his words. What holiday was on the fifth of December? There wasn't one, as far as I was informed.

"Just tell me or I'm going back to sleep." My eyes slid shut again.

"It's National Music Day!" Demyx yelled, making me wince. It was too early for loud voices.

"And what, may I ask, the hell is National Music Day?" I rolled over to look at my clock. Nine thirty.

"Its pretty self explanatory." Demyx waved a dismissive hand in my direction before latching onto my arm and pulling me up. "You'll love it, I just know you will!" He bounded off my bed and across the room, running in a small circle before returning to me. It was obvious he wasn't going to leave me alone any time soon and he had enough energy for the both of us. Groaning I practically shoved myself out of bed, resisting the temptation to lie back down.

"Yay!" Demyx cried, obviously overjoyed at my getting out of bed. "That journalist lady is coming today too." He added as he bounced across the room and wrenched the door open. "But that's not until tonight, or at least that's what she says." Without waiting for me to answer he charged into the hallway, practically slamming the door behind him. I could hear him singing all the way down the hallway and the staircase. His voice was still audible when he had reached the living room. Demyx didn't have a bad voice, but he didn't sing that often just randomly like that.

And then I figured it out, National Music Day, him breaking into song. Another one of his totally random ass holidays. At least this one had some sort of sense to it, unlike National Notepad Day, in which I had been forced to carry around a notepad all day and write down every single one of my thoughts and actions, or the ever popular International Raspberry Week. I still haven't touched a raspberry since then.

Sluggishly I got dressed, only bothering to throw on a hooded sweatshirt and sweat pants. I was still half asleep. I trudged down the hall and the staircase, entering the living room to find everyone in there, including Mom and both dogs and the cat. Mom smiled up at me brightly, just like every other morning. "Happy National Music Day Axel!" Mom always went along with Demyx's random holidays, like they happened every year. It was amazing how many raspberry recipes she had found during that week a few months ago.

I plopped down on the couch next to Sora, who was lazily flipping through channels. "So what exactly do they want to interview us for?" He piped up, stopping on a news channel that coincidently had the news reporter sitting behind a desk, looking serious as she talked about a drought or something. We all stared at her for a few minutes, studying how she talked and held herself. My eyes were immediately drawn to her eyebrows, again. Every time I saw her on the news or on a billboard, it was the first thing I noticed. Her eyebrows were extremely dark, almost jet black. In truth they weren't that different than any normal person's eyebrows. Except for her hair was a bright, icy blonde, making the eyebrows shoot out at you like daggers. I could almost guarantee I couldn't talk to her without my eyes straying upwards.

"Hmm, I don't know exactly. She didn't really explain it much, except for that they found it interesting and a refreshing change for their regular news report." Mom shrugged, sipping at her cup of green tea.

"How many times do you think she has been married?" Roxas joined the conversation out of nowhere, eyes still focused on the grim looking reporter.

"Hmm. Probably three or four times, at least." Marluxia studied her face too, as if she was suddenly going to scream out how many sugar daddies she had divorced. "I bet she looks older in person." Everyone nodded their agreement.

"She's probably the botox creation in person." Zexion added his bit, pausing before added, "And a lot older than she lets on to be. Make up and editing can do wonders." I snorted. Leave it to Zexion to think of something like that.

"Maybe she's like one of those people who gets obsessed with plastic surgery and then when you see them in person it freaks you the hell out and gives you nightmares." I shudder just at the thought of it, picturing all those burnt out celebrities and people on those plastic surgery before and after shows my bio mom used to watch all the time.

"Oh boys calm down. I'm sure she's a normal person just like everybody else." Mom waved her hand dismissively at the television, trying to act like she wasn't staring at those mutant eyebrows either.

I shrugged. "Anything's possible Mother." There was a time span of a couple seconds before Demyx burst into random song.

"It's possible it's possible! Oooooh, oh wah wah wah oh. It's possible, it's possible!" He spun around in a small circle, arms extended while the rest of us stared at him like he had just emerged from a radiology lab and had sprouted multiple heads.

"…what?" I raised my eyebrow at him. Demyx stopped abruptly, huffing and crossing his arms over his chest.

"It's from Seussical, you know, the musical?" When I just stared blankly at him he huffed again and went back to singing. "I still think that I'm not such a fool when I sit here in fish in McGilligot's pool. It's possible. Anything's possible!" He finished with a fanfare of hands, before plopping back down on the floor where he had been before.

"You make me wonder about you sometimes Dem."

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**Sora-**

It was at exactly four in the afternoon when there was a loud knocking on the front door. I had barely opened it when what seemed like a million people barreled into living room. The first lady in stopped to shake my hand vigorously.

"Hello! My name is Stacey! It's so wonderful to finally meet you…..um…what's your name?" My eyes immediately shot to her eyebrows. Up close she was much shorter than she seemed, and I could see her extremely dark roots, only making the icy blondeness seem brighter. She did look a lot older in person, and Zexion was right. She did kind of scream botox at you.

"Um…I'm Sora." She never let go of my hand, renewing her wild shaking of it at the announcement of my name.

"Well Sora! I'm very excited to be here and meet you! You seem like a just down right lovely boy! Now where is the rest of your family?" She let go of me and scanned the living room for other life. Everyone else had gone to pick up something to eat for dinner later, except for me and Zexion. I had been crashed out on the couch when they left, and Zexion said he would stay here and accompany me, since Mom was all hyped up about kidnappers and rapists lately and never allowed us to be home by ourselves. Zexion, who had wandered into the living room at the sound of all the noise, shrank back from the overzealous news anchor at her yell of delight at spotting him. Briskly she clomped across the living room, her high heels making obnoxious clatter, even on the living room carpet. Her hand shot out when she reached him, which he warily took after running his eyes over her face.

She did the same exact introduction speech that she had given me, her shit eating grin faltering slightly at his quiet nature.

"My name is Zexion." He told her almost inaudibly. Her grin returned to full size at this news.

"Oh Zexion! Of whom I talked to on the phone yesterday! How wonderful to finally meet you in person! Now where are the rest of the inhabitants of this humble abode?" Her eyes scanned the living room, roaming over the staircase and the doors to the kitchen and basement.

"Um…they aren't here." I stepped away from all people setting up camera equipment as she made her way towards the kitchen door. She halted in her steps, spinning around to face me.

"Oh. Well that's alright! I'm sure they will be back in no time! That gives us plenty of time to set up all our equipment and get ready, and have more time for interviewing!" She returned to the center of the room, watching bright lights being put together, piece by piece.

"You're home is just lovely!" She spun around in a small circle, looking at everything with her ever sweeping eyes. I exchanged a look with Zexion across the room. Liar. She didn't like it at all. You could tell by the look in her eyes and the way her nose crinkled slightly that she would rather be in a house where everything matched, preferably in white and light colored wood only, right down to matching photo frames. As if she was reading my mind, her slightly beady eyes landed on Mom's photo wall.

"Oh! This must be the other four!" She hurried over to the wall to study us. No two photo frames were alike on Mom's wall. She had picked out a frame with much care for each person that she thought represented them. She had lots of pictures, all of them of boys in the teenage years. She had a picture for every single boy she had ever taken care of. She had taken all of the pictures herself as well, in whatever season of the year the boy had come to her in. All the boys on her wall except for us were in college now, a few of them graduated and married. She got mail from them all the time. Her pictures were scattered in what seemed like a random order, but right in the center of the wall was a picture for each of us, in two rows of three. Stacey fortunately had caught onto this.

"Oh these are wonderful! Who takes these pictures?" She was studying my picture closely. I remembered when Mom had taken it, in the middle of spring, at the park. I was sitting under a large oak tree, sunlight streaking through the branches and casting a few lines of dark and light over my face and torso, while my out stretched legs where in shadows. The frame for it was a medium color of brown, just a few shades lighter than my hair, and was covered in etchings of a different compass rose in each corner. Mom said she had picked this frame for me because she believed I would have adventures.

"Mom takes all of them herself, in the park up a couple streets from here." Stacey nodded as she moved to study the next picture. "Oh and this _must _be your brother." She had moved onto the picture of Roxas, framed in a frame that resembled stone. It had been taken the same day as mine, of course, and in it Roxas is lying down in the bright, fresh green grass, his hands behind his head, smiling up brightly at the camera.

"Yea, his name's Roxas, we're fraternal twins." She nodded again, as if in approval, already moving onto the picture of Zexion. In it Zexion is sitting on the wide, wooden rail of one of the staircases leading down to the horseshoe pit. There's snow everywhere, and it was falling lightly the day she had took it. The picture was not a planned one, Zexion looking slightly away at the falling snow, a trace of a smile shadowed on his face. Mom had immediately fallen in love with the accidental picture, and it was easy to see why. His frame was an organized tangle of black lines. Mom had explained that she had chosen this frame because it was mysterious and slightly complicated, but inviting and lovely to look at, and quiet.

"Oh Zexion this is a very lovely picture. You're very photogenic." Stacey's voice was a little too energetic for her words. Just like before she moved onto the next picture, leaning in close to study it. This one was of Axel, standing in between two bean pole of trees, which were sprout tiny leaf buds. The grass below him was just started to turn green, but the picture was pretty none the less. Axel had his hands around one of the trees, angling his body to appear in between the two baby trees.

"And who is this?" Stacey ran her finger over the red, orange, and yellow frame that resembled a blurry picture of a fire.

"That's Axel." Zexion piped in. By now some of her crew members had wandered over to the picture mosaic too, peering over her shoulder.

"Well he's very handsome. He's seems like the type that would drive all the girls crazy." She laughed, most of the crew following suit, as it was the funniest thing they had heard all day. I was starting to feel that she had a lot to do with if they had a job or not at the news station.

"I like this boy already!" She gestured at Demyx's picture, smiling blindly at it. Demyx was sitting on top of the monkey bars, his legs dangling between the metal bars. It was summer. He was leaning back slightly, looking over at a bright blue butterfly that was about to fly over his head. The frame was blue and covered in bubbles. "What's his name?" She continued to stare at the picture as if she was about to devour it.

"That's Demyx." Stacey laughed again. "Oh that's a wonderful name. I can't wait to meet him." She moved onto the final picture, of Marluxia. Instantly her expression softened. Marluxia's picture had been taken three days after he had moved in, so he was still quiet and withdrawn. It had been an unusual early fall, so leaves were scattered everywhere. Marluxia was sitting in a tree that had particularly dark red leaves. His smile was soft and small, his eyes vulnerable. His frame was a dark cherry wood, which Mom had explained looked the same at quick glance, but if you were around it long enough you could find all sorts of things. It was true. He and Zexion were the only ones of our bunch whose pictures didn't feature a full mouth smile.

"That's Marluxia, he's the newest one here." I told her before she could even ask. She gazed at his picture for a long time before replying.

"Why does he look so sad?" The corners of her mouth pulled down, as if she disapproved of any mood that wasn't over the top bubbly.

"Well he hadn't been here very long when Mom took that. He was…still dealing with stuff." I didn't know how to explain it to her.

"Oh. I see. Well he's very pretty. He has wonderful hair." She ran her index finger across his hair on the picture.

…Pretty? This lady was officially on the top of my weird list.

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**Roxas-**

"Oh no I thought she said they wouldn't be hear till late evening!" Mom glanced down at her watch as we all piled out of the car. "It's only four thirty! I wonder how long they have been here!" She pushed out of the car and hurried across the street. We had to park across the street in front of the neighbor's house. Two large black vans with the news team's stations printed on the side of them were taking up her space in the driveway.

"Your turn Axel! You need to sing a song, right now!" Demyx exclaimed as we marched across the slightly snow covered grass. Dark clouds overhead were swirling around, threatening to snow again.

Axel sighed and thought for a moment. Demyx had been making us sing something at random times all day. Finally out of nowhere he started singing, "One on one will be havin some fun in my bedroom all day, and all of the night. You and you, can bring your whole crew to my bedroom all day, and all of the night." The rest of us started cracking up as he continued, grinning wildly.

"Face down, ass up that's the way I like to fu…" Axel let his voice trail out as we entered the living to discover about a dozen people we had never met before standing here and there in the living room, most of them looking at Mom's picture wall. Instantly the news reporter stuck out to me, standing with her face about two inches away from Mom's picture of Marluxia, one slightly stubby finger pressed against it. Sora and Zexion were sitting together on the loveseat, watching her. Heads whirled around at our entrance, looks of confusion on most faces at Axel's singing. Miss news reporter, however, bounded across the room to us, stopping abruptly in front of us like a deer caught in the headlights.

"I'm Stacey Springsteen! It's so wonderful to meet all of you! You must be the owner of this happy abode!" She shook Mom's hand, though her eyes were roaming over each us in turn behind her. She attacked Axel first, shaking his hand with both of hers.

"You must be Axel! Oh you have a very lovely picture over there! And I love the frame choices." She added this last bit to Mom before moving onto me.

"You must be Roxas, Sora's twin. I had no idea that there were twins in this house! It's just wonderful!" She didn't even give me a chance to reply before she moved onto Demyx, repeating her now traditional, "and you must be" blah blah blah. She moved onto Marluxia. I braced myself for "and you must be" but it never came.

"Hello Marluxia. It's very pleasant to meet you." Her voice softened, as if she was informing a five year old that she had to flush his goldfish down the toilet.

"Uh….hi." Marluxia furrowed his eyebrows at her in confusion. I leaned around her to quirk an eyebrow and Sora, who just shrugged and motioned to the picture wall.

"How are you my dear?" She was holding his hand between both of hers, her voice still soft.

"I'm fine…" Marluxia tilted his head slightly, bewildered. Stacey ignored this or just didn't even notice, trailing a finger across his hair before turning back to Mom.

"Well let's get this started!" I've had everything set up so that we can all sit on the large couch and around it." She briskly collected a stack of papers from a stagehand, and sat down on the couch, smoothing her skirt down and fluffing her hair. She motioned for Mom to sit down across from her, and for Marluxia to sit next to Mom. Zexion ended up sitting on the armrest, and the rest of us fanned out on the floor in front of the couch, Sora and I sitting close together, of course. A man behind the cameras counted down with his fingers and pointed as little red lights on both cameras came on.

"Hello I'm Stacey Springsteen, here reporting for the evening news. I am here in the house of…" She went on to introduce Mom, smiling that fake smile of hers and patting Mom on the shoulder.

"She has established a very successful household in the foster home program, housing teenage boys from all across the state. She has been running this humble abode for about ten years now." Stacey turned her gaze back to Mom.

I swear if she says the word "abode" one more time I was going to throw up.

She talked awhile more about the need and reason for foster homes, and how people can start one and get into the program before she started asking questions. "So, what made you decide to start this special foster home for teenage boys?" Mom plastered a smile across her face to match Stacey's, but Mom's was genuine.

"Well, I never had children of my own, and when my parents passed away I was left with a large fortune and this lovely large house. I couldn't think of a better way to use the money and space." Stacey nodded a line of understanding as fake as her tan sketched into her forehead.

"Well it's a very effective and loving way to use these gains. And who are all these handsome boys of whom you are currently housing?" She gestured at all of us with one hand, pausing to smile into the camera.

Mom's expression grew from professional to loving as she named each one of us, smiling happily at each of us in turn. Anyone could tell she wasn't faking anything. Stacey went on to ask about the picture wall. Mom happily explained how it came to existence with her very first foster child. She searched several stores in surrounding towns and internet sites to find the perfect frames for each child, sometimes having them custom made.

"I see. It's a very nice, formal keepsake to remember each one of your temporary children." Her eyes roamed over us before she stopped on Zexion. "Unfortunately there is a downside to foster homes, and that being that there is something wrong at home that brought each one of these boys to this temporary shelter. Zexion, can you tell us why you were moved into this home?" Immediately Zexion stiffened, looking sharply away from the news caster, an unreadable expression cutting across his eyes. Mom, noticing sudden change in him, faced Stacey squarely, like a mother eagle protecting her egg.

"Well Ms. Springsteen, I'm sorry to say that that information is confidential to only me and his family and social worker." Good save Mom, good save. Stacey nodded, but you could clearly tell she was disappointed she couldn't spill this gossip to the world. "As are all of the boys cases confidential" Mom added when Stacey's eyes landed on Sora and I.

"As it should be." Stacey returned to questions of how Mom ran the house, how it felt to let a boy go back to his family when his time here was up. The last question made Mom teary eyed.

The woman never seemed to run out of questions. She talked for a full hour, occasionally springing a question on one of us unexpectedly, which always resulted in a few minutes of awkward silence before we answered.

"Do you feel attached to these six boys in a maternal way, as if they were your own?" Stacey asked for her wrap up question. It was a stupid question. Anyone could have figured out that Mom cared for us in the first five minutes of this interview.

Mom scanned us all again, tears returning to her eyes for a second time. "Oh of course I do. It would be very heartbreaking for any of them to leave me anytime soon." She lightly ruffled Marluxia's hair lovingly. The way she did it was unsettling. As if she knew something none of us did. Stacey wrapped up her session with a smile and a "we'll be back after this message." and a hair flip. Finally, _finally, _the camera's little red lights blinked off.

"Thank you so much for giving us time to talk to you." Stacey shook each of our hands again before leaving, fake until the very end.

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**Zexion-**

The house seemed oddly empty and quiet after the dozen or so of the news crew had left. We sat in silence for a few minutes, each lost in our own thoughts before Marluxia broke the silence. "Why the hell was she treating me like my puppy just died?" This earned a laugh from all of us, including Mom. She patted him on the shoulder.

"I have no idea. But when she was studying all of our pictures like frogs on a specimen table, she got all 'oh poor baby' about your picture." Sora chimed in, lifting himself from the floor to go look at the picture himself.

Marluxia huffed. "So I wasn't in the best of moods that week. It's not like I'm a piece of china or something that's suddenly going to break."

"And for the record, she was like the botox spokesperson. And if any of you ever, _ever _dye your hair a different color, dye your damn eyebrows. I think I stared at them for the majority of that freaking hour." Axel rubbed at his temples, as if trying to rid himself of the image of them.

"When are they putting this on t.v?" I looked over at Mom, waiting for her to answer.

"Day after tomorrow, I think." She sounded distant.

"I believe the world is burning to the ground, oh well I guess we're gonna find out!" Demyx sang out randomly, jumping up from his spot on the floor. Mom was softly stroking Marluxia's hair. Something was wrong.

"Mom? What's the matter?" I voiced what everyone must have been thinking, because the room immediately hushed. Mom sighed, her hand never moving from Marluxia's hair.

"I guess I need to tell you now." She said softly, the edge of tears creeping into her voice. She took a deep breath and continued. "You're Mom is out of rehab Marly. She had been for a couple weeks now, but she wanted the time to get the house and herself fixed up and start her new job." Her eyes cast downward from him.

"You leave tomorrow at noon."

* * *

**Song credits:**

**McGilligots Pool/It's Possible -Seussical the Musical (we did it for our musical in school last year, and I just had to put that song in here)**

**Get Freaky -Play N Skills (don't ask...long story)**

**How Far We've Come - Matchbox Twenty**

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**If for some reason you like this story, have no fear! Another story is on its way that I've been working on for months and months and months now. And it has an actual plot line! OOOOOHHHH!!!**

**See you in the Epilogue**


	21. Epilogue

**Several things have happened that kept me from posting this epilogue earlier which included tennis matches, school work, getting my braces (they couldn't make me a normal kid and get them way back in middle school:-( ), random spouts of sickness (which we will not go into detail of) team tennis sleepovers (which were really fun), major power outages, and all about lazyness. It feels so weird posting the epilogue, because now its truly over. Wah! I miss it already! I've been trying to work really hard on my new story, but I've been so busy lately. My new story actually was first influenced by Axel's mom in this story...that should tell you something right there. **

**I've also discovered a need to either a) work on my drawing skills alot or b) never draw by candle light again. I drew Saix by candle light looking grumpy the night the power went out and showed it to my mom. She looked at it once and said, "She looks mad!" **

**...at least she got the mad part right. **

**Thank you to everyone who reviewed, commented, suggested, alerted, faved, read, and took the time to even look at my story. You have all inspired me in some way or another. It's been a random and joyous ride, and I'm sad to see it end.**

**

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**Epilogue**

_So Axel and Larxene broke up. Again. Though Axel claims that he isn't going to get back together with her this time. He keeps saying "well we weren't 'together' together anyway. And besides, it's not like I was planning on marrying the chick anyway." Maybe this time he will stick to his word. Kairi keeps talking about you. Every time she is with us somehow you become the subject of discussion. She never said anything…flirtatious to you did she? Roxas and Sora's mom has been visiting them a lot. She finally got herself out of rehab, though I have my doubts it will last very long before the twins are back here at home and she is in a another facility. Sora tackled Roxas yesterday, after he used the word "abode" which has been officially banned from the house after that. Demyx and Namine are still together and still as sickening as ever with their baby talk and nose nuzzling. Tifa and Aerith were walking down the hallway together yesterday, holding hands like girls do when they are best friends. Needless to say it was a shocking occurrence. I guess the banned together in the "Ex Girlfriends of Cloud" club. Snicker Doodle is officially to big to sit on my lap anymore or be picked up by anyone. She ran into the screen door yesterday and broke it. Mom was the only one who didn't find it remotely funny. _

Like all of Zexion's emails, the letter ended short and abruptly, like it needed no concluding line or paragraph. The words flew from one topic to another, as if he was trying to get a lot of information down in a limited space. The news on Larxene and Axel was nothing new. They both flitted from one thing to another like butterflies, getting bored with routine quickly. I hadn't expected them to last very long. No one really did. Zexion hadn't mentioned anything about Riku and Sora, but I suspected that they were still together.

"Marluxia!" Lizzie's voice rang out through the house. A moment later she appeared at the doorway from the kitchen, cradling her small white kitten in her arms. Mom had given it to her a couple days after we returned, as if it was a peace offering. In return she had presented me with the shiny new laptop which was now sitting on my lap.

I raised my eyes to meet hers. She had a large smile plastered across the face as she swayed her torso back and forth slightly. "You promised me you would help me make chocolate covered strawberries! Please can we do it now! Please please please?!" She hopped up and down from one foot to another, causing her cat to leap out of her arms and dart across the room to the couch. Lizzie pouted for a moment at the loss of her pet before turning back to hopping up and down. I smiled at her, clicking the computer closed.

"Alright, alright I'm coming." Lizzie squealed with delight and hopped off to the kitchen, leaving me to trudge along behind her. The first few days after I returned home were strange. The house seemed foreign and too quiet with out a dog barking and loud bursts of laughing, yelling, and video game challenges. Mom had spent two complete days talking to Lizzie and me almost nonstop, urging us to tell her everything that had happened during her absence. When I looked back on it, there was a lot that had happened during my brief time there. The time Zexion had gotten hit in the face with the racquetball, when the power had gone out because of the thunder storm, when Demyx and I had practically gotten lost in the grocery store trying to find frosting, the large cold that had spread through the house like wildfire, Axel's exile to dinner duty and his failed attempt at lasagna, and all those countless game of Clue. Coming back to the small house I had spent most of my life in was weird. It felt too small, peaceful and empty. My mother had fixed up the outside as best she could and had put down new carpet in the living room and gotten a new stove, but that was it. It was still nothing compared to the comfy, large, and slightly random house I was used to.

"Here, we should dip oranges and bananas in chocolate too, just to see what they taste like." Lizzie thrust the box of strawberries into my hands along with a freshly peeled orange as she pranced across the kitchen and snatched two bananas off of the counter. She smiled brightly at me as she came back across the kitchen and thrust a strawberry into the gooey melted chocolate. I studied her as she hummed softly to herself and twirled the strawberry around before setting it down on a piece of wax paper she had spread out neatly earlier. She had cut her long hair and put in dark caramel colored highlights. She also had braces, which her foster mother had been eager to purchase for her.

The front door slammed open and shut, and a minute later our mother strode into the kitchen, setting her purse down on the table. She had landed a job as a receptionist at a dentist's office, so she always wore brightly colored scrubs to work. She looked almost like a real person now a days, pulling her hair back in loose ponytails and officially leaving drugs in her past. She still had to go to meetings three nights a week, but she was still on a steady climb towards the mother I had known as a child.

"Mmmm, that looks delicious." She snatched a freshly dipped banana slice off of the wax paper and popped it in her mouth.

"Hey!" Lizzie shrieked. "These are for _later_!" Mom smiled lightly at her, planting a kiss on the side of her head. "Ok, no more for now. But that doesn't mean I'll eat them all later!" She sang out she left the kitchen and headed towards her bedroom.

"Oh no you won't!" Lizzie called after, giggling. She slid the last piece of fruit around, an orange slice, in the chocolate, dipping it down to cover it completely in chocolate. Quickly she extended her hand to me, trying to avoid letting the still runny chocolate melt.

"This is for you!" She exclaimed, her usual smile on her face. "For the best brother ever!" She put the lid on the leftover chocolate and placed it in the fridge before bolting from the kitchen. A moment later I heard the t.v. flicker on. Lizzie had found a new love in nightly newscasts in our time apart, so it was no surprise when she had shrieked with joy on discovering that I would be on one of her news shows. She and Mom had both sat on the couch together, beaming happily at the t.v. watching the botox princess with the heavily dark eyebrows sitting on our couch. I still referred to Ms. Avery as Mom, and her house as my house. It was just too weird not to. Meanwhile I had sat in the chair, my eyes frozen to my other family, none of us even attempting to clone Stacy's fake as her hair cheerfulness. It made me laugh, watching Axel arch and eyebrow and hold in a snort of laughter every once and awhile at her questions, since I had been sitting behind him on the couch. The happiness of just seeing all of them again, even though it was just in pixel, was brief as it interview reached the point in which Mom had turned to me and ruffled her hand through my hair. "Oh what a nice lady." My biological mother had complemented when it was over. "I'm so happy you were with her." I had sat staring at the rest of Lizzie's newscast in silence for a long time, unable to get the image of Mom's loving look of affection out of my head.

Later, after Lizzie had forced Mom and I to eat every single one of her chocolate dipped fruit pieces with her, I had sat down and opened up my email again, feeling slightly nauseas from all the sweet chocolate. I was intending on writing Zexion back when I discovered an email from Axel.

_Despite what ever you hear, Larxene and are over for real this time. Everyone probably thinks we will get back together just because we still talk to each other but we are not. Period. So. I needed to ask you this because she is driving me bloody insane. Did you know about Kairi's insane crush on you? Or did it develop after you left? Because she all she wants to talk about it is you. You you you. I keep telling her to call you or email you or something but she won't listen and gets all giddy and girly about it. If you wrote her something I bet she would have a heart attack. Do it, please? Just for me? I need entertainment in my life! _

_Always,_

_Axel_

_Oh and you need to get your ass over here soon. I still have a thousand Clue rematches with you. I will be revenged!_

Below it Axel had added Kairi's email, along with a thousand other pleases. I smiled, reading the email over again twice. I really had had no idea that Kairi had liked me, making me wonder myself if she had develop it after I had left. I typed a quick response to Axel and Zexion, before typing Kairi's email in the address line. I'd thought for a long time of what to write to her. I made it simple, how are you, how's school, how's life in general.

I closed the laptop, staring ahead of me in the darkness of the living room, the only light flooding in from a nearby streetlamp. After awhile I set the computer down on the chair and trudged down the hallway to my bedroom, thoughts of my other family drowning out everything else.

* * *

Marluxia graduated from high school and went on to study to become a botanist. Kairi took two weeks to reply to his email, but after that the two got steadily close, but never really dated. Marluxia visited both of his families on holidays and breaks, spending equal time with both and staying in touch with all of them.

* * *

Axel stayed true to his word and never got back with Larxene, though he did go through many one night stands during his first semester in college. He went on to the same university as Marluxia, becoming his roommate. Despite his outward attitude, he managed to study and resist the temptation of several parties and keep up with his school work. He never went back to living with his mom, who is still living in a mental hospital.

* * *

Roxas and Sora went to live with their parents shortly after Christmas. Their father never grew into a fatherly figure, but their mother had become almost suffocating with her love. Sora had Riku stayed together, even after Riku graduated from high school and moved three hours away. In February, their mother went back to rehab, this time for cocaine addiction, and they returned to their foster home. However, in late May their mother was released from rehab again and swore to make permanent changes in her life, which she stuck to. The twins moved back in with her shortly after her second discharge from rehab.

* * *

Demyx stayed with Namine after his graduation, going on to study marine biology and music. He stayed in touch with his two stepsisters, and in short communications with his mother, who still blames him for his stepfather's conviction. He broke away from his stage fright and joined a band, in which he was the main singer and guitarist.

* * *

Zexion went on to a special fine arts college, majoring in drawing and acting. He still stuck to his books and impressed many people with his large intelligence. He spent all the holidays with his foster family. Shortly after graduating high school he went on a search for his mother, but never located her. His father, however, attempted to contact him shortly after the interview with Stacey Springsteen had appeared on t.v. Zexion never contacted him back.

* * *

Ms. Avery retired from foster care after the latest six, claiming that it would feel too weird to replace any of them. She stayed active in the field however, and helped locate the perfect home for foster children.

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**Ah the end. For good and serious. Wow...this is weird. **

**Oh and feel free to message me whenever. I'm always on fanfiction whether or not I'm writing at the moment. I love talking to people about anything, no matter how random it is :-)**


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